This year Air Jamaica, the Caribbean’s leading airline, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its entry into the UK market. This comes after the carrier’s most successful year to date in 2005, and the announcement this month of its best ever punctuality and reliability rate.

In 1996 Air Jamaica launched a three-times-a-week A310 service to Jamaica, and ten years on, this has become a daily A340 service.

With one of the youngest fleets in the western hemisphere, Air Jamaica is the only scheduled carrier to fly non-stop to both Montego Bay and Kingston from London Heathrow.

Despite the current challenging and competitive environment, 2005 was Air Jamaica’s busiest ever year on the London - Jamaica route, with an average load factor of 81%.

Air Jamaica continues to invest in delivering the highest levels of service for its passengers, and during the last two months the carrier has achieved a schedule completion reliability rate of 99.3%.

The airline undertook a restructuring of its operations in November last year, including the appointment of Michael Conway as the company’s new chief executive and a new board. Co-founder of America West Airlines and National Airlines, Mr Conway leads Air Jamaica at the company headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica, while Tony Cowles continues to head up operations in the UK/Europe.

Cowles said, “Our tenth anniversary is a time to reflect on our past as well as look to the future. Air Jamaica has gone from strength to strength over the last ten years, and we are delighted with our current position in the marketplace. 2005 was Air Jamaica’s most successful year yet on the London route, flying with very high payloads and we hope to build on this as we move forward.”
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