Trinidad PM clarifies Air Jamaica-Caribbean Airlines deal

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has indicated that Air Jamaica will operate as a separate and distinct company from Caribbean Airlines.    

After declaring that Trinidad and Tobago will honour the deal with Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines, with Air Jamaica keeping its name, it was not immediately clear how the new arrangements would work.   

However on Friday RJR News sought clarification from the twin island republic Prime Minister.

“You know how we have CCL and TCL, CCL is a member of the TCL Group of Companies…Air Jamaica will be part of the group Caribbean Airlines partly owned by the Jamaican Government and partly owned by Trinidad and Tobago’s government,” Mrs. Persad-Bissessar said.   

The previous arrangement was to see Air Jamaica absorbed into Caribbean Airlines and becoming one company.

In the meantime, the Trinidad Prime Minister said she expects Air Jamaica to get an extension of a temporary waiver to continue to fly to the United States.

The waiver became necessary because under the air services agreement between the U.S. and Jamaica, an airline company operating directly from Jamaica to the U.S. must be majority owned by Jamaicans.

After Caribbean Airlines acquired Air Jamaica on May 1, only 16% of the company remained in Jamaican hands, prompting the need for the waiver.