By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinator 
Stewart and Zacca
FOLLOWING the events of September 11th, 2001, Air Jamaica sustained losses of approximately US$70 million and may need financial assistance to remain competitive.
Speaking at a briefing to update the media on the state of Air Jamaica since the September 11th, 2001 attacks on both the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Air Jamaica's deputy chairman, Christopher Zacca said:
"A year on from the events of September 11th, 2001, we estimate that during that period we have lost US$70 million. It has also cost us an additional US$6 million in insurance and US$25 million in security. We will now be requiring bridge financing but as yet haven't placed a figure on that sum.
"If the disaster of September 11 last year did not occur, Air Jamaica would have broken even this year."
Air Jamaica's chairman, Gordon "Butch" Stewart said that the airline may well need Government assistance but that it had not yet sought that route choosing instead to fight on. He said that the question of whether Air Jamaica should go public and thereby raise adequate funds to address its plight though mooted was not feasible at this point in time.
"We need to ensure that our balance sheet is healthy and that we are able to pay a dividend before we can even consider that possibility and we are some way from that."
The airline industry has never been through a period of 12 months with so many changes and it all cost money. For example we now are required to have security doors on the pilot's flight cockpit fitted on all our aircrafts by April of next year. That will cost us US$60,000 per door. In the meantime we will have all the cockpit doors bolted."
Mr. Stewart went on to say that after the attacks on September 11, 2001 no aircraft flew into the United States for five days which proved most costly for operators in the business. He said that Air Jamaica was the first international airline to put wheels down in Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports.
"I think the Government of Jamaica has been an excellent partner of Air Jamaica. Both the Government and the Opposition party have been right behind us and we are very grateful. The exchange rate would have collapsed and may well be J$100 to US$1 today if Air Jamaica was allowed to go under."
Since September 11, 2001, many airlines have cut back on their capacity by as much as 50 per cent. Air Jamaica choose to move forward and cut back by just 14 per cent initially but by December it was back to full capacity.
While other airlines have suffered tremendously as a result of the terrorist attacks as it currently stands Air Jamaica accounts for 63 per cent of all the people who fly out of the United States to Jamaica. It also accounts for 61 per cent of all traffic coming out of the United Kingdom and that is for both schedule and chartered carriers.
" There isn't an international carrier that didn't get taken to the cleaners after 9/11/2001. US Air declared bankruptcy and United Airlines is insinuating that it to may have to declare bankruptcy and the list goes on and on. We have not laid off staff in fact we are seeking to improve our service. The additional security and safety arrangements have put immense pressure both financially and also in terms of on time performance," said Mr. Stewart.
Air Jamaica's chairman took the opportunity to say that the airline had rectified its baggage problem which generally plagues the airline during the summer months. The president and chief operating officer of Air Jamaica, Bruce Nobles said that the airline was in the midst of a fleet reorganisation that would simplify its operations.
" Over the course of the next year we will be phasing out our older aircraft like the A310 and replacing them with brand new A320s and A321s. We will be trying to ensure flexibility and efficiency. We are also changing our computerised reservation system to a new system called SABRE which is a state of the art system used by 60 other airlines. This will be implemented by the end of this year. This will allow us to provide a much better process in terms of making reservations and also checking in at the airport and will help us reduce our expenses. We have to match our capacity with the demand.
"The simple truth of the matter is that the demand for air travel is down around the world and Air Jamaica has to continue to find ways to increase its share of the market by providing the best possible product," said Mr. Nobles.
