AirTAC licence challenged
Published:Wednesday | August 18, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Christopher Reid of Jamaica Air Shuttle has raised an objection with the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority on plans by a rival Turks and Caicos carrier to service certain Caribbean routes that it also plans to fly.
The objection delays plans by Lyndon Gardiner, chief executive officer of Air Turks and Caicos (AirTAC), to start offering service from Kingston to Haiti, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos - routes previously served by the defunct Air Jamaica Express.
Jamaica Air, a local short route carrier, intends to launch its own flights to Haiti and Cayman Brac in September.
Reid told Wednesday Business he expects the matter to become the subject of a court hearing, and said on that basis he would not comment.
He said, however, that Jamaica Air's service to Haiti and Cayman Brac will begin in six to eight weeks and that training of staff had already commenced.
Head of the JCAA Colonel Oscar Derby said, while on vacation, that if the Jamaica Air Shuttle's challenge was legitimate, there will be a hearing on the matter.
At the time of the comment he had not yet seen the complaint.
Gardiner said he was advised in writing that the objection to his route application was received by the JCAA from Airways International/Jamaica Air Shuttle Managing Director, Christopher Reid on July 15.
Meeting postponed
Gardiner said several attempts to arrange a meeting with Reid have failed.
"He postponed the meeting and has not taken any of my calls after he did not confirm a new date," he told Wednesday Business.
Gardiner had hoped to start flying the routes within 60 days of regulatory approval.
"I had hoped to start already but JCAA has not confirmed anything," he said.
Jamaica Air Shuttle currently offers flights between Kingston and Montego Bay from its Tinson Pen base in Kingston and private charters to all towns excepting Negril.
The domestic market is serviced by JAS with a fleet of 14 seat Beech 99 turbine twin engine aircraft.
A customer service source at JAS said on Monday that the company hopes to launch flights to Cayman Brac and Haiti in September with plans for three weekly flights focused on weekends when Jamaicans working in these locations may wish to commute home.
Gardiner has already invested up to US$4 million in the acquisition of two additional 30 seat aircraft bringing AirTAC's EMB120-30 passenger fleet to five.
Air Turks and Caicos planned to fly an Embraer 120ER, a Dehaviland 6-30 and a Beech 200C on the routes.
His plans included an additional US$9 million of capital expenditure in the first two years of operation.