Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

Pennicook

WESTERN BUREAU:

Paul Pennicook, Air Jamaica's senior vice-president of sales and marketing, on Wednesday announced an ambitious schedule to meet the airline's traditional busy summer season, as well as the addition of a 757 aircraft to the company's existing fleet.

The national carrier flew 821,000 passengers between April and August, last year, 48 per cent of the 1.7 million passengers it transported in 2007, making the summer its busiest period to date.

Come April 1, the airline will commence daily flights out of Orlando and Barbados, add a fourth to its Curacao route and move its Los Angeles itinerary from four to six trips per week. Its Grand Cayman route will now operate four days per week - two flights in the morning and two mid-afternoons on various days, while New York and Miami will increase their schedules.

Efficient schedule

"We think this is a far more efficient schedule, which has the potential to increase business from North America and the Caribbean," Pennicook told The Gleaner. He added that, in the case of gateways such as Orlando and Los Angeles, the airline was the only non-stop carrier flying into Jamaica.

The impressive new schedule calls for 14 aircraft in the fleet, one more than is currently in the system. The 757, which has the capacity to carry a greater 'pay load' (more baggage) and is very similar to the Airbus 321, will fill the void by June, noted Pennicook.

He said the airline's pilot had already undergone training to operate the aircraft.

The news comes in the wake of the airline cancelling its St Lucia, Bonaire and Newark routes earlier this month.

Lorna Pitter, of Tropical Travel Service in Montego Bay, said she welcomed the new additions, but that she also wanted to know the rationale behind closing down St Lucia.

"If they were losing on that route, they could have curtailed their operations out of there to a minimum of two flights per week," she said. "We had traffic into St Lucia, there is business into St Lucia."

In the meantime, unlike the recent announcements made by US Airways and United Airlines that they would start charging passengers for checked baggage, Air Jamaica says it has no plans to take that route.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com