Jamaica tourism minister has no regrets over closing Air Jamaica

Jamaican Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett on Thursday described the pending demise of Air Jamaica as "a truly painstaking decision" but said his government had no choice but to close the costly operations.

"We know we had to take a tough, hard decision. Believe me it is a nerve wracking and emotionally draining exercise, even politically it is difficult, but there are times as it is said when ‘a man’s got to do what a man has to do’," he told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) in an interview in Berlin where he is attending a Trade & Consumer Exhibition.

Caribbean Airlines (CAL), the Trinidad and Tobago national airline, is taking over the airline from April 12.

The Manning government has stated that it would not be responsible for Air Jamaica's billion-dollar debt, estimated at US$1.3 billion and it is only taking over Air Jamaica's profitable routes.

Bartlett said he is comforted by CAL's plan, noting that Air Jamaica has already dropped its unprofitable routes, leaving five key routes that CAL will be taking over.

"We feel comfortable with the airlift arrangements that we have now for most of the routes. Caribbean Airlines I think will pick up much of, if not perhaps 70 per cent.

"We think that the existing carriers can have capacity for another 15 per cent and after 85 per cent we don’t worry.

“I think that, on balance, we should be in good shape but we still have to watch and see and make sure that we are there and being proactive because the one thing that we cannot afford is to lose capacity out of the US market," Bartlett said.

Bartlett said while he "pained" about the change, he does not regret it. "The hardcore facts are, we can’t afford it," he told CMC.

"I am pained by having to do it but when you have to make business decisions that will inure to the wider good, regrets cannot be the term you use, it has to be that it is a difficult choice, it is painful yes, but you have got to do what you have got to do," he told the media organization.

He suggested that "somewhere in the future" the national flag carrier of Jamaica may fly again.