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March 18, 2008 |
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AIR JAMAICA: Ticket Policy for Gov't Officials to be Reviewed The Jamaican cabinet will review Air Jamaica's policy of offering complimentary first-class tickets to parliamentarians and their spouses, The Jamaica Observer reports, citing Deputy Financial Secretary Robert Martin. According to The Observer, Air Jamaica's Financial Controller Paula Brown said before the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives that examined queries about the airline's operation that parliamentarians and their spouses were offered four complimentary first-class tickets every year. Committee Chairperson Omar Davies told The Observer, "The sort of word in the streets is that this is a major area of abuse." The tickets were business class if the seats were available, otherwise parliamentarians would have to travel economy class, The Observer says, citing Member of Parliament for South Central St. Catherine Sharon Hay-Webster. Mr. Martin told The Observer that the auditor general had mentioned the issue in his report so that it would go to Cabinet for directions after the transfer of Air Jamaica back into government's hands in 2004. The Observer notes that Mr. Martin told the committee, "This has to go to Cabinet and a policy decision taken whether to continue or to discontinue the practice." The offering of the tickets began when Air Jamaica was privately-owned and didn't require any approval from Cabinet, but things have changed since the airline was acquired by the government in 2004, The Observer relates, citing Mr. Martin. "The audit query is for a policy decision to be taken. This is basically what it is. Nobody is really quarreling. We just want a policy decision to be made," Mr. Martin told The Observer. Headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, Air Jamaica -- http://www.airjamaica.com/ -- was founded in 1969. It flies passengers and cargo to almost 30 destinations in the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. Air Jamaica offers vacation packages through Air Jamaica Vacations. The company closed its intra- island services unit, Air Jamaica Express, in October 2005. The Jamaican government assumed full ownership of the airline after an investor group turned over its 75% stake in late 2004. The government had owned 25% of the company after it went private in 1994. The Jamaican government does not plan to own Air Jamaica permanently. * * * As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on June 12, 2007, Moody's Investors Service assigned a rating of B1 to Air Jamaica Limited's guaranteed senior unsecured notes. On July 21, 2006, Standard & Poor's Rating Services assigned a "B" long-term foreign issuer credit rating on Air Jamaica Ltd., which is equal to the long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Jamaica, based on the government's unconditional guarantee of both principal and interest payments. |
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