AirTAC sees Kingston as ticket beyond the region
Published:Wednesday | July 14, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
Lyndon Gardiner, chief executive officer and chairman of Air Turks and Caicos (AirTAC), says his company will be investing upwards of US$9.1 million (J$783m) in the first two years of operations in Jamaica, with no expectation of turning of profit during the period.
AirTAC is awaiting sign-off on its application to operate scheduled air service from the Turks and Caicos and intermediate points to Kingston - routes left vacant by the defunct Air Jamaica Express.
Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Derby says a six-year licence will be granted if no objections are raised during the mandatory two-week notice period. AirTAC plans to begin flying within 60 days of approval, Gardiner told Wednesday Business on Monday.
"These routes have not been operated for an extended period of time as AJ Express had stopped flying them for some time," he said.
"Our attention is focused on providing expanded regional connection for the northern Caribbean where persons and property can be easily moved around the region. We estimate it will take 18 months to grow the routes and so are not expecting any profits for the next 24 months of operations."
AirTAC, he indicated, has already invested in excess of US$4 million in the acquisition of two additional 30-seat aircraft for these routes, bringing the airline's EMB120-30 passenger fleet to five aircraft.
The seven-year-old airline plans to fly an Embraer 120ER, a Dehaviland 6-30 and a Beech 200C on the routes.
"We have committed to another two aircraft being purchased, which will bring our total investment for this project to some US$8.6 million," said Gardiner. "On top of this, we have begun an aggressive recruitment and training programme which will see another US$500,000 being invested for flight crew training," said the AirTAC chairman.
The company plans to hire 12 people in Jamaica at start-up, growing that number to 30 within a year of operation.
Its general sales agent in Jamaica is Transportation Agencies Limited.
The three routes applied for include Turks and Caicos to Kingston via Nassau, The Bahamas; Turks and Caicos via Kingston to Port-Au-Prince, and Santo Domingo; and via Havana, Cuba.
Gardiner chose Kingston because, he said, it is strategically placed with connection options to the Eastern Caribbean, Latin America and Europe.
The airline is also looking at expanding routes to include certain US destinations, acquiring larger commercial jets in the 100-seat range, and eventually extending connections to select destinations in the southern Caribbean from the Turks and Caicos hub.
"AirTAC is keen to forge strategic alliances with all regional based carriers, as we believe that as Caribbean people we deserve the opportunity to excel and expand in our own region," said Gardiner.
The new Jamaican licence, if approved, will extend from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015.
AirTAC is currently operating year-round at 38-60 per cent capacity.
The airline has engaged in cost-cutting in order to remain in the black, since the financial crisis of October 2008.
"We were able to tighten our belts, trim our schedules and continue to operate safely and on time. We have an overall 93 per cent on-time performance for the last 18 months," said Gardiner.
"I am a hands-on manager and so we are able to take quick decisions to save costs. Our employees are also very conscious not to waste resources."
Gardiner owns 100 per cent of AirTAC shares.
Formerly known as Inter-island Airways, the airline offers sche-duled domestic and short-haul international services, as well as charter flights.