Air Jamaica will be increasing its fleet over the next five years with some 20 to 30 aircraft to be added, said Mike Conway, president and chief executive officer.

There are 17 aircraft in the airline's current fleet, of which 14 have been scheduled for routine maintenance. Maintenance is under way on three aircraft.

"We are very active in securing acquisitions," Conway told the Government's news agency, the Jamaica Information Service, in a recent interview. "At least half a dozen 757s will replace our A321s while six A319s will be added also, two of which will be devoted to comprehensive cross-island service to be initiated later this year and four to replace the A320s."

According to Conway, "We have modified our fleet selection based on aircraft that were not available at the time we made our original selections," adding that, "we are close to making a final decision on dispatching our two A340 aircraft and that will conclude our fleet transition going forward."

Still safe

Responding to reports that the decision to replace the Airbuses with Boeing aircraft was a bad one in terms of safety, Conway stated, "There is no discernible difference between the safety of the Boeing and Airbus aircraft."

The Air Jamaica CEO noted, "Certain issues and concerns arise each time there is a change from one type of aircraft to another, which include issues to do with training and whether all the cost factors have been fully taken into account.

"Concerns were raised specifically about our original contemplation of acquiring Boeing 737s as there had been some reports circulating about problems with the 300, 400 and 500 series of those aircraft," Conway said.