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Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda (left) makes a point as Dennis Lalor, chairman of the Air Jamaica Divestment Committee, listens at yesterday’s luncheon meeting hosted by Observer Chairman Gordon ‘Butch Stewart’ at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue offices in Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings
THE cash-strapped national carrier, Air Jamaica, is finally expected to be off the Government's books by March 31, the end of the 2009/10 fiscal year. Dennis Lalor, chairman of the Air Jamaica Divestment Committee, made the disclosure yesterday at a luncheon meeting hosted by Observer Chairman Gordon Butch Stewart at the newspaper's Beechwood Avenue office in Kingston.
"We are working with the Caribbean Airlines people with a view to completing by the end of March," said Lalor.
At the same time, Lalor said pilots wishing to purchase the airline have not, to date, presented any proposal to take over the national carrier.
Government has, since mid-January, been having discussions with the Trinidadian-owned Caribbean Airlines for the sale of the airline.
"I have not received anything from the pilots since the first meeting we had in August," Lalor told attendees at the yesterday's luncheon, which included Bank of Jamaica Governor Brian Wynter and Financial Secretary Dr Wesley Hughes.
Lalor said the pilots, at the August meeting, were given instructions regarding the method of making the submission.
"The pilots have not supplied any plans that I know of," he said, adding that they met with the prime minister last week where they were asked to present funding for the purchase.
Since Government announced its intention to divest the airline, there has been a lobby for the Air Jamaica staff, headed by pilots affiliated to the Jamaica Airline Pilots Association (JALPA), in order to retain local ownership.
But Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in an address to Parliament Tuesday, warned that any entity wishing to purchase the airline with borrowed money should forget the idea.
"I would advise them sincerely, don't go there. If you are not able to get in on the basis of equity, where you have the cash and you are prepared to invest that cash and put it at risk because you believe that you can make it work, then my advice is don't go there," Golding said.
Golding warned against the assumption that redundancy payments to Air Jamaica workers would be invested in the airline. "...You cannot assume that the workers are going to turn around and invest that money as equity in the airline," Golding said.
"I am not saying that some won't, but I would be very sceptical of any suggestion, or any talk, that a huge portion of that US$25 million is going to be foregone by the workers, and be put in an entity.... It is at great risk, and even to do this, I would not myself accept that that is a business proposition," the prime minister said.
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