Don Wehby, the minister who has responsibility for Air Jamaica, came as close as he could to doing the next best thing.

The best thing would have been to take Air Jamaica out of its misery by shutting it down, thus saving taxpayers a big, fat wad of money. It would have been the best thing to shunt Shirley Williams aside.

But Mr Wehby, we infer, has not been given that sweeping a mandate, as reasonable and logical as it is, and ought to be.

So, Air Jamaica is to continue its haemorrhage except, Mr Wehby hopes, with a better tourniquet, pulled tighter, until the Government finds a partner, the deadline for which is the end of next March.

Aviation industry suffering

Of course, it all seems rather hopeful that a buyer/investor will come onboard any time soon. Not one, at least, willing to, and capable of, pumping over half a billion United States dollars (J$36 billion) into Air Jamaica in the short to medium term to turn around the airline.

Up to last year, the global airline industry was still emerging from a crisis that was triggered by the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001. The attacks themselves hurt air travel. But the problem was exacerbated by sharp rises in the cost of a key component of air transportation - fuel.

Airlines lost money big time. Several were forced into bankruptcy; others were forced to merge to survive. Air Jamaica, then ostensibly under private sector control, survived only because it had the cushion of government subsidies.

Over the last decade, the airline, which came back into full state ownership at the end of 2004, has accumulated losses of US$1.2 billion. It is a debt which is part of the Government's contingent liability of over US$500 million.

But if things were bad for the international airline industry, they have grown worse. The rocketing price of oil, the mess in the financial markets and fears of global recession have messed up their balance sheets.

Air Jamaica has not been immune. It lost US$171 million in 2007, plus another US$86 million for the first five months of this year. Air Jamaica, frankly, has had a torrid time in a difficult environment.

Real power to operate

It has also had Shirley Williams, the former executive chairman. Her strength as an aviation industry executive was epitomised by that recent episode when she recalled to the departure gate a taxiing aircraft, so that a late-arriving passenger could be allowed to board.

In Mr Wehby's next-best move - and we understand the political space in which he operates - he keeps Ms Williams on the board as the non-executive chairman. The real power now, though, given that offloading the airline is the priority, will shift to Dennis Lalor, who will oversee the divestment committee.

It is good that Mr Wehby has also appointed some bottom line-oriented money types. Yet, it remains severely lacking in people of airline experience, which was also too obviously the case during Shirley Williams' mad swish through the executive office.

But it would be a good decision if Mr Wehby gives the job as chief executive to David Banmiller, and gives him real freedom to operate. He knows more than a thing about airlines and has the capacity to execute.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.