RodgersNoel Thompson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH JUST a little over a month to go before the official start of the winter tourist season, Air Jamaica says its projections for bookings are not encouraging.
The airline's vice-president of industry affairs, William Rodgers, said projections for December into early January, the usual peak period for the airline, was not showing any great prospects now.
He noted that the entire airline industry has been going through a more difficult time than he had seen in recent years.
"Air Jamaica itself, has also been affected in that, although we are carrying approximately the same traffic as we did a year ago, it has come at a discounted rate of between 25 and 30 per cent," he stated. While noting that the market has been coming back very slowly, he said projections were not very encouraging.
"We are only hoping that it is a question of the people waiting until the very last minute to make their final decisions," he said, adding that the atmosphere in the United States, with the threat of war, was an influencing factor creating some uncertainties.
But, Mr. Rodgers noted that the negative impact was not affecting the national carrier only. "Even domestic travel within the US is down quite a bit."
Asked whether or not there were any cancellations or negative feedback on Air Jamaica as a consequence of the recent sniper incident in the US, Mr. Rodgers said: "No. Fortunately we haven't seen anything that we can really pin down to that at this moment. There is still time yet to examine figures, but nothing immediate."
Responding to comments made by members of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association that the industry was not likely to see an economic rebound anytime soon, Mr. Rodgers said the predictions were that it could take up to the year 2004 before there would be a positive turn in the whole economic situation for both the airline and tourism industries.
Since the terrorist attacks on the United States last September, more than 700 jobs have been lost in the tourism industry, but Air Jamaica did not reduce its staff.
"The staff took a salary reduction for three months. Since then, we have taken the decision that at a time like this we need all the forces and a more aggressive approach in order to get whatever share of the market that we can," he stated.
