By Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
FOUR YEARS ago, Howard Levy and his wife, Constance, started an airline charter service targeting the tourism industry with a single Cessna aircraft operating out of Montego Bay.
Mr. Levy, who has served as a flight instructor with Wings Jamaica, was the pilot and Mrs. Levy supported her husband as the customer service representative for the company, International Airlink.
On January 30, three additional planes later and a staff complement of 50, International Airlink has tapped into Jamaica's domestic air transportation market, offering 10 daily flights between Montego Bay and Kingston, with connections to Negril.
"We have since made leaps and bounds in the aviation industry and today we present our newest addition to our fleet, 'Patriot Service', a Beechcraft 1900D 19-seater aircraft, which cruises at 320 miles per hour," Mr. Levy said yesterday at luncheon to officially launch the expanded service.
"Patriot Service affords every Jamaican from all walks of life to enjoy the opportunity to fly... the service that we give to our tourists is the same one that we will be giving our (local) people."
The managing director explained that the airline has an operating cost of US$700 (approximately J$43,400) per hour.
Customers are being asked to pay US$110 (J$6820) for a return trip, which Mr. Levy contends is 30 per cent less than their main competitor's.
In his address, Paul Pennicook, director of tourism said the company's move comes at an opportune time when the country's tourism sector is foreseeing increased visitor arrivals despite the onslaught of Hurricane Ivan.
"We at the Jamaica Tourist Board enthusiastically welcome the new service ... this bold step comes at the right time when we are seeing a very encouraging rebound in tourist arrivals," Mr. Pennicook stressed.
He said the connection to Negril by extension makes the south coast more accessible, as the area is one that is poised for major developments as the tourism product is diversified.
The director highlighted that last year, there were 1.41 million stopovers compared to 1.3m in 2003, an increase of 4.8 per cent. Preliminary figures show that as at January 31, Montego Bay had 93,000 arrivals, up by 6.2 per cent while there were 17,855 in Kingston, five per cent more than the same period in 2004.
