EVEN as Fly Jamaica Airways announced that it intends to restart flight operations in a few months, the company on Friday issued redundancy letters to its staff members, an indication that the airline may fold.

On Friday, the airline stated in a media release that it continues to provide refunds to persons affected by the recent disruption in flights.
However, in a letter seen by this newspaper, which was signed by the airline’s Chairman and CEO Ronald Reece, the company informed its employees that due to the lack of aircraft and the impact this has had on the company’s financial position, it had no other alternative but to make all employees redundant, effective March 31, 2019.

The company said that it was hoping for funding, but this has been slow in the making
The Jamaica-based company lost function of one of its aircraft last November in a runway crash at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and has not operated since.
Some Fly Jamaica passengers, who had booked flights prior with the airline, have been gradually receiving refunds as the airline works to regain its footing.

In a media release on Friday, the airline stated: “Fly Jamaica Airways has been providing refunds to our valued customers. All requests for refunds are being honoured, however, it is a process that has to be checked by our reservations and accounts staff. Some passengers would obviously like to see the process move faster, but we have to be constrained by our cash and credit card business safeguards.”

Fly Jamaica has been a source of fresh air since they brought some amount of stability to the extremely lucrative Georgetown/New York route.
At the time, Guyanese had experienced grave difficulties which included exorbitant prices and bad service from foreign based airlines and fly-by-night charter companies when airlift was limited.

The company added: “Fly Jamaica Airways Limited is not currently operating any aircraft, however, we hope to restart flight operations in a couple of months.”