AIR JAMAICA 1966 - 1994

 

Air Jamaica (1966) began service on May 1, 1966 under a tripartite agreement between the Government of Jamaica, BWIA, and BOAC (now British Airways), and operated on a wet lease arrangement. April 1, 1969 saw the birth of Air Jamaica (1968) Ltd. with majority ownership by the Government of Jamaica and a minority interest held by Air Canada, which provided equipment, technology, training, pilots, and some top management. On this memorable date Air Jamaica made history and became the National Airline of Jamaica. With a fleet of one DC8 and one DC9 aircraft, Air Jamaica began operations offering daily non-stop flights from Kingston and Montego Bay to New York and Miami, becoming the” little piece of Jamaica that flies”.

 

Over the years, Air Jamaica expanded its routes and flight schedules, while introducing bold innovative service features aimed at making passengers’ in-flight experience second to none.   Passengers were welcomed on board with the Air Jamaica signature drink – Rum Bamboozle, and enjoyed an in-flight fashion show highlighting fashions by Jamaican designers and modeled by Air Jamaica’s very own Flight Attendants.

 

The 70’s marked an era of rapid growth for Air Jamaica. On June 1, 1970, Air Jamaica began non-stop service between Jamaica and Nassau and on to Chicago and this was followed in 1971 and 1972, with new gateways established in Philadelphia and Toronto respectively.   In 1972, our award winning in-flight magazine SkyWritings’ was launched adding a new dimension to our on-board product.   1973 saw the commencement of service to Detroit via Nassau. This coincided with the beginning of the oil crisis, and this route was subsequently discontinued in 1976. Air Jamaica also operated a series of charter flights between London and Kingston starting in 1973 which evolved into regular scheduled service of three non-stop flights per week from London to Kingston and Montego Bay from April 1974 thru 1981. Air Jamaica’s gateways were further expanded with service to Grand Cayman in 1978 and Houston in 1979, although Houston was suspended in May 1981.

 

Service to Dallas, Fort Worth, which was inaugurated on June 21, 1980, brought the airline’s international gateways to 15 in just 11 years of operation. A route rationalization exercise in 1981 led to the suspension of this route and paved the way for service to Baltimore/Washington in 1981, shortly followed by the Atlanta gateway the following year. Between 1982 and 1984, Air Jamaica also re-introduced service to London, UK and Frankfurt, Germany through a joint agreement with Aer Lingus. 

 

Also in 1982, Air Jamaica inaugurated service to Port of Spain via Barbados in June 1982, a service that was later discontinued in September 1983. 

 

Through a “buy back” agreement concluded in 1984, the Jamaican Government acquired the full ownership of the National Airline and by 1985 Air Jamaica’s route structure had grown to include international gateways, namely: New York, Miami, Toronto, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Juan, Port Au Prince, Curacao, Grand Cayman, Newark, Tampa, Atlanta and Los Angeles, San Francisco. Air Jamaica has since discontinued service to San Juan, Port Au Prince, Curacao, San Francisco and Tampa. Service to Newark and Los Angeles were temporarily discontinued, but were re-instated under privatization. 

 

During the following years Air Jamaica’s growth was apparent not only with route expansion but also in technological advancements. 

In 1991, Air Jamaica established twice-weekly service from Jamaica to Nassau in the Bahamas to fill the gap left by the modified British Airways service to the region.  In 1992, Air Jamaica began the first scheduled non-stop service from Orlando to Jamaica. 

 
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