By Lionel Gayle, Gleaner WriterTHE FORMAL announcement of next April's return of Air Jamaica to daily service from Toronto was met with roaring applause Monday night, as the airline wined and dined a wide cross-section of Caribbean nationals at a reception dubbed 'Love is in the Air.'
Calling the Air Jamaica aircraft "the prettiest bird that has ever flown the Toronto sky," the airline chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart said, it "is about to come back home." This was followed by a prolonged applause in the huge auditorium at the Jamaican Canadian Association (JCA) Centre, decorated with Air Jamaica emblems and vibrant Caribbean colours.
Starting April 5, 2004, Air Jamaica flight JM078 will depart Pearson International Airport at 8:45 a.m. to arrive at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston at 11:55 a.m. The return flight JM079 will leave Kingston at 1:30 p.m. to arrive in Toronto at 8:00 p.m.
Although each flight will stop briefly at Air Jamaica's hub in Montego Bay, Mr. Stewart said these flights would leave too late to be part of the hub.
Air Jamaica, then owned by the Government of Jamaica, began service to Toronto in March 1972, but discontinued operations in 1990. However, the carrier instituted "a code share agreement" with Air Canada to fly the route and that will end April 4, next year.
THE NEWEST FLEET
In his Monday night address, Mr. Stewart told his audience that Air Jamaica had the distinction of having the newest fleet anywhere in the Caribbean, and boasted that the airline had the best food in the sky.
With reference to Air Jamaica's success story, he said Air Jamaica has won the Five-Star Diamond Award four years in a row, making it one of only seven airlines in the world that have received the award, with only one being a U.S. flag carrier. Other awards included the Modern Bride Honeymoon Award that it has received three years in a row. And it has won the Internet competition of the most beautiful planes that fly the sky.
