Oriole, a Jamaican low-cost airline venture, has been launched that will operate domestically from March next year.
Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, chairman of Oriole—a Jamaican and European consortium, said at a launch event for the new airline, stated that the set up will be an integrated aviation business based on a bold strategic vision.
“I knew from the time when I was minister of tourism that Jamaica has been a graveyard for airlines. We probably remember Trans-Jamaican Airlines, Jamaica Air Shuttle, Air Jamaica Express, Air Jamaica and most recently Fly Jamaica. They have all come and gone. I hope like me you will be persuaded that now is the time for a bold new vision for the aviation sector in Jamaica. We have a rare opportunity to consider our own transformational investment opportunity for Jamaica.”
She stressed that for this airline there will be clarity of vision, detailing of the plan, robustness of the financial parametric, and excellence of the implementation plan.
Keith Kerr, project director and chief executive officer designate, said that the airline initiative had been planned for some time.
“This initiative … has been researched, stress tested, and always come through in flying colours. I have been researching for some time and had knowledge of this particular market. The Jamaican market is booming and is ripe with the right proposition to have great success. Starting an airline is perceived to be difficult, as starting an airline in this country is started by people who are passionate flyers rather than people who are passionate business people. Jamaica needs infrastructure and there is an opportunity to derive significant profits from that if it’s done properly. The problem with prior operators is that they have always started under capitalised,” he said.
The airline will launch using mostly leased aircraft, operating flights across Jamaica and the region with hourly shuttle service between Kingston and Montego Bay and other intra-island trips to Negril, Ochio Rios, Port Antonio, and Treasure Beach.
For inter-regional flights the routes and networks will be mapped through countries including Barbados, Curacao, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago among others.