IN A STORY on page two of yesterday's Daily Gleaner, Professor Neville Duncan, a Caribbean political scientist called for the Caribbean countries to establish a regional airline.
He called for the all the airlines in the Caribbean to merge thereby pooling their resources to provide a reasonable means of travel around the region.
The story also stated that Jamaica had refused in the past to merge while a planned merger between Trinidad's BWIA and St. Lucia's LIAT is yet to get off the ground.
Considering the problems now facing Air Jamaica and the two other airlines, a merger does seem a viable option for them to stay afloat. Certainly the financial rut that Air Jamaica is faced with could certainly improve if it had a wider pool of resources to draw from. Having a regional airline is definitely a much more favourable alternative to having no airline.
As stated in the article, the alternative should be seen as an economic proposition rather than a political decision.
The coming of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy will increase the movement of Caribbean nationals across the borders and it would be best served if there was a regional carrier which would facilitate the movement of all these people.
Therefore we encourage the various governments in the region to carefully consider this option and make the right choice for the Caribbean people.
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