Dionne Rose, Parliamentary Reporter
Michael Conway, chief executive officer of Air Jamaica
Michael Conway, chief executive officer of Air Jamaica, has sought to allay security concerns raised by pilots regarding a proposal to replace the airline's current fleet with Boeing aircraft and 737-300 planes.
The pilots had written three letters to Mr. Conway expressing their concerns about the new fleet being acquired and the long-term implications on savings for the company.
Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, brought the concerns raised by the pilots to the attention of a special select committee of Parliament appointed to examine the financial and operational state of Air Jamaica.
The committee met at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, on Wednesday.
Dismissed concerns
Mr. Conway, however, dismissed the concerns raised by the pilots. He said that based on accident rates from 1959 through 2005, the two aircraft series being acquired had the lowest accident rate per million departures.
"There is absolutely no safety issue with this transition," he said.
According to Mr. Conway, of the 14 new fleet, six were five per cent less fuel-efficient and eight had a fuel efficiency of more than 15 per cent.
He said the acquisition of the new fleet would allow the company to fill 50 per cent of the US$100 million financial gap that it was now experiencing.
The pilots had further indicated that the transition from the current aircraft fleet to older Boeings would be more difficult.
But, Mr. Conway insisted that the pilots would be successfully transitioned into flying the new fleet as the difference in technology between both was minuscule.
"Particular pilots who for whatever reasons have difficulty making the transition, they will just go through more training until they are actually put in the cockpit, just like they went through when the company made the first transition," he said.
The pilots had also expressed reservations about the company's decision to purchase older planes than it was currently using. But, Mr. Conway said not all the planes would be older aircraft.
