Air Jamaica Boeing 737-800 – 9Y-JMB at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on September 18, 2011. Photo by TVL1970.
Air Jamaica’s fleet over the years has consisted of so many different aircraft it’s hard to keep up. They’ve operated everything from a Douglas DC-8 to Boeing 727’s to Airbus A340s. Heck, they even leased a Boeing 747-100 from Aer Lingus at one point. Fortunately for their fleet operations they now only operate Boeing 737-800s.
Air Jamaica has quite the history of varied government ownerships and privatizations. The airline was founded in late 1968 with the Jamaican government owning the majority share but with Air Canada owning a minor share and providing maintenance services. Air Jamaica was partially privatized which lasted for about 10 years before financial trouble lead the Jamaican Government to take back full ownership.
Today Air Jamaica is a subsidiary of Caribbean Airlines Limited, with the Jamaican Government still having a 16% ownership share. Talk about an interesting ownership history for this airline.
Air Jamaica Airbus A340-300 in last generation livery. Photo by Ken Fielding.
Their website doesn’t seem to be up-to-date with their fleet. One page on their website makes reference to operating seven A320s, one A321, and one A319. Another shows that they are operating the A340, A320 and A321. But on their fleet page, they only reference operating 737s — which is all they currently operate.
Air Jamaica operates flights from their hub in Kingston, Jamaica to various destinations around the Caribbean, New York (JFK), Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, and Toronto.
Air Jamaica’s new livery is much more snazzy than their old ones. I particularly like the brightness and how the colors on the tail transition down the side of the plane in a swoosh like line. Given that this is a Caribbean based airline, it’s certainly fitting (and almost necessary) that they have a colorful livery!
Photos: TVL1970 & Ken Fielding
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This story written by…Colin Cook, Correspondent.Colin is an avid AvGeek who works in finance and is based in the Seattle area. He has an immense passion for aviation and loves to travel as much as possible. |