Regional airlines urged to consider full integration

AS CARIBBEAN government-owned airlines take on the restructuring of their operations independently, in order to compete effectively, the Caribbean hotel industry has made a call for the decision makers to consider a solution they have yet to contemplate: full operational integration.

Air Jamaica airlines

The proposed solution is a result of the 'think tank' session on Caribbean aviation held in June 2005 during the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC), in Miami, Florida. The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) has taken on the compilation of the deliberations of this session, edited into a five-page white paper that proposes operational integration as the way forward for a viable solution to the regional air services problem.

The document has been distributed to CARICOM heads of state, ministers and directors of tourism, ministers and directors of aviation, and the CARICOM Secretariat.

The proposed solution calls for the airlines to retain their individual operating units and strong brand identities under common ownership in an "Airlines of the Caribbean Group" operating an integrated schedule.

MARKET ACCESS

"As in any business, control over market access is fundamental to success-more so for tourism, the only sector that can realistically generate hard currency for the region's economies and meaningful employment for its people," said Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of CHA.

BWIA airlines

"Operational integration would empower the Caribbean to achieve more self-reliance in air transportation, which will in turn provide Caribbean tourism with a solid foundation on which to build its future." Such integration would result in profitability, lower fares, and expanded service.

The white paper concludes that while full integration is ideal to maximize the benefits, the proposed structure should be flexible enough to allow partial integration initially with space for others to join at a later date.

The participants in the session whose insight contributed to the development of the White Paper on Caribbean Aviation included Ian Bertrand, Aviation consultant, principal, El Perial Management Services; Hon. Noel A. Lynch, Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, Barbados; Bob Booth, Chairman, AvGroup, Editor AvNews Latin America & Caribbean; Barry Biffle, chief marketing officer, Spirit Airlines; Jorge García, commercial vice- president, COPA Airlines; and John Greenfield, president, JAGEVA, Inc. and Former vice-president of planning, Air Jamaica and BWIA.

The white paper follows on the footsteps of successful advocacy initiatives led by the Caribbean Hotel Association over the past year to support the decision-making process as it relates to the development of the Caribbean tourist industry.

These include the study on the economic impact of Travel & Tourism in the Caribbean launched in 2004, as well as the lobbying efforts undertaken in the wake of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which would require a valid passport for re-entry to the United States for Americans returning by air and sea to or from the Caribbean as of January 1, 2006, now postponed until January 1, 2007.