Dionne Rose, Parliamentary Reporter

President and chief executive officer of Air Jamaica, Michael Conway, last week dismissed as impractical suggestions that the national airline should be merged into a regional airline.

Mr. Conway was responding to questions posed by Opposition Spokesman on Transport, Mike Henry, who had asked about the practicality of a merger.

"There is nothing of substance to back it up," he said. People have thrown the word out: 'Oh, you just sort of merge all the regional carriers and then that would solve everybody's problem.' There is no study to substantiate any merit to that."

Mr. Conway was speaking during a parliamentary sub-committee meeting, which met on Thursday for the first time to discuss the status of the airline.

However, he disclosed that Air Jamaica is pursuing collaborative efforts with other carriers.

"People are aware Air Jamaica led the collaborative effort between the carriers of the region where we are the official carrier of the teams and sponsors for the upcoming cricket (World Cup 2007)," he said.

Fabulous opportunity

But Mr. Conway said the airline was looking outside of the region to form other partnerships. He said one such partnership is being pursued with Latin American airlines, through the introduction of a frequent-flyer programme for all of Latin American and Caribbean carriers.

"There is a fabulous opportunity for the carriers in the Caribbean and the Latin and Central American regions to do something on a collaborative effort," he said.

This, he continued, is because the traffic originating in South and Central America and the Caribbean is growing at a much higher rate than traffic originating in North America.

Last week, Mr. Conway also said the failure of the Air Jamaica Acquisition Group (AJAG) to properly conduct routine main-tenance on the Air Jamaica fleet had contributed to its deterioration over the years.

As a result, he says, it is now more expensive and time consuming to service the planes.

But, in a release, AJAG rejected statements claiming Mr. Conway is casting unwarranted blame on the company to hide the ineffectiveness of the current management.

Proposed intitatives

AJAG also said Mr. Conway had failed to inform the parliamentary committee about the delays experienced in the maintenance of some aircraft.

AJAG returned the management of the airline to the Government in December 2004, having had responsibility for 10 years.

In the meantime, Air Jamaica has proposed several initiatives to be implemented over a two-year period to close a US$100 million financial gap.

The initiatives include the conversion of the current fleet, the upgrading of its maintenance system and the introduction of a cross-island service from the Norman Manley International in Kingston to the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.