KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC:

TWO OF the three regional airlines comprising theairlift consortium for the upcoming Cricket World Cup say they are prepared for the challenges of the mega event.Air Jamaica, Caribbean Airlines and LIAT were awarded the contract to provide chartered intra-regional airlift for teams, officials, media and sponsors during the March 11 to April 28 tournament.

As teams arrived in earnest on Thursday for the start of the tournament, officials from Air Jamaica and LIAT gave the assurance they would be able to handle the demands efficiently.

"It has been five months of preparations and we are very excited to be involved in the Cricket World Cup in such an integral way. All of our staff and crew are looking forward to doing the best job we can," said Richard Lue, Air Jamaica's director of special projects.

"We will be working closely with the other two carriers to move, not only teams and their cargo, but supporters as well, around the region. We have done a lot of work and we're going to deliver in a manner that makes everybody proud."

Special plans

Lesroy Browne, LIAT's director of schedules and special projects, said he was in "no doubt" his airline could deliver and revealed they had implemented special plans to deal with the transfer of luggage.

"The flight schedules have been well coordinated for us to move teams, their luggage and gear bags around the Caribbean," Browne said.

"We have things worked out so that some bags will go directly on to the team's Group stage location after the warm-ups, while the teams go to Jamaica for the opening ceremony.

He said the airlines had been in discussions with several airports throughout the nine host venues, requesting that they operate "almost 24 hours a day to accommodate the traffic during Cricket World Cup".