THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE ECONOMIES of scale and efficiencies support your assertion of 'price support agreements with other carriers' if Jamaican stakeholders are not prepared to ante up the multimillion-dollar annual sub-sidy to support Air Jamaica.

The statistics demonstrate that the national airline, while integral in the development of other industries, fails any elementary physics of business - that of being manage-ment and fiscal responsibilities to its shareholders.

The real but sad truth about Air Jamaica's losses in 2007 compared to previous years is that the airline operated a smaller fleet of aircraft and less available seat miles (ASM) with a smaller staff than ever before.

Increasing unit costs

The grounding and early lease returns of two A340 wide-body aircraft and disposition of other A320 aircraft reduced the airline's seat capacity. It unintentionally increased unit costs (per ASM).

The elimination of the London route, by itself, significantly reduced the amount of revenue passenger kilometres flown annually, and the misrepresentations of the airline's viability for any investor gets bleaker.

Untold story

Not to be forgotten is the US$125 million infusion of Bear Sterns junk bonds in 2007.

The untold story about the increasing size of the 2007/2008 Air Jamaica losses is startling when considering these airline key performance indicators. The Jamaican people deserve more honesty than what Don Wehby and the Government provide on this matter.

JOHN LONG

rulong2@yahoo.com