Kingston, Jamaica – Members of the Air Jamaica Staff Acquisition Team have declared that the ailing flag carrier can be made profitable within two years of being acquired. The Acquisition team is being spearheaded by the Jamaican Airline Pilots Association (JALPA).
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday, February 15 at the Spanish Court hotel in Kingston, Spokesperson for the Acquisition Team, Captain Russell Capleton said the team envisioned profitability in the second year after acquisition, based on the business model that has been formulated. He pointed out that at present, the airline’s operational losses had been significantly reduced. “I’d like to make clear that our first avowed intent is profitability,” he stated.
Captain Capleton lamented the fact that the Government had given the Acquisition Team a mere 72 hours to produce a proposal and show the bona fides of its capital sources, which he said had precluded a due diligence process on the part of its potential equity investors. Nevertheless, he said, the team had pulled out all available stops to present an “eminently credible proposal.”
Capleton also assured the briefing that the Acquisition Team has equity investors in place, but advised that he could not name those entities, pending non-disclosure agreements, and that the staff Acquisition Team had no intentions of directly managing the airline, but would retain the best professional management available. He added that a needs assessment would be conducted by the Acquisition team, upon which determinations would be made as to staffing and other issues.
Addressing the issue of the airline’s debt load (currently US$1.4 billion) and the assumption of that debt, Captain Capleton said the original memorandum of understanding called for, inter alia, any prospective bidder to be prepared to “participate in the accumulated debt” and this stipulation of course applied to Caribbean Airlines. The original memorandum, he added, also called for bidders to show three years of audited accounts, a requirement which Caribbean Airlines has to date not fulfilled.
The Acquisition Team spokesperson also made specific reference to the airline’s iconic position within the minds of Jamaicans at home and in the Diaspora, adding that every effort would be made to strengthen that emotional connection, including a proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the second year after acquisition. He added that under Caribbean Airlines, Jamaica would essentially become a ‘destination’, with several career paths, such as maintenance, pilots and flight operations essentially being closed off to Jamaicans.
The briefing also heard from a current Air Jamaica employee, Sandra Christie, as well as a union representative.
In addition to JALPA, the Acquisition Team includes business advisory and other consultants. Formed in 1971, JALPA currently has 120 active members employed to Air Jamaica.
