TRINIDAD & Tobago’s Caribbean Airlines should attempt to take over struggling carrier Air Jamaica only if it does not include the company’s massive US$900-million debt.

Air Jamaica’s government guaranteed debt stands at US$650 million, with another US$200 million in short-term debt, Bertrand said during a lecture titled ‘Meeting the Challenges of the Aviation Industry in the Caribbean-Whither Air Jamaica’ at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.

If the airline has to be divested, it will involve another US$50 million to reduce personnel, he suggested.

“Once you are not taking all that debt and you don’t have the tourism obligation (that the Jamaican government demanded of Air Jamaica in past decades) and you had the money to capitalise the airline, then it might not be a bad time for a merger’ between Caribbean Airlines and Air Jamaica,” Bertrand said.

The International Monetary Fund has specified that the Jamaican government must sell Air Jamaica if it is to qualify for a nearly US$1.3-billion aid loan.

But Bertrand said if anyone had to buy Air Jamaica from that country’s government, they should not spend more than one dollar for it because of its debt.

Another possible option would be for Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines to approach aircraft suppliers together, change their machinery to one type of airplane and thus reduce costs.

Prof Norman Girvan of UWI’s Institute of International Relations was also scheduled to comment at the seminar yesterday, but was delayed in Jamaica.

Head of Economics at UWI Martin Franklin delivered Girvan’s comments, which suggested that with Jamaica under pressure from the IMF to divest Air Jamaica, Caribbean Airlines might have ‘considerable leverage’ to negotiate with the Jamaican government.

Caribbean Airlines and Government are continuing discussions with the Jamaican government to explore acquiring Air Jamaica.