The Government of Jamaica, and our stakeholders including the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) and the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), has been working with American Airlines (AA) to begin scheduled international flights from Miami, Florida to the Ian Fleming International Airport (IFIA) in Boscobel in November 2022, as announced earlier this year.

Since the time of the announcement, AA has been working with the AAJ and the JCAA towards ensuring that all the necessary regulatory and supporting structures and arrangements are in place to facilitate the flight. However, despite continued work to make this a reality, an agreement was reached to postpone the launch of the service to a later date than originally announced.

This decision was taken by AA, in consultation with the Jamaican Authorities, to allow for additional Air Navigation Services, requested by AA, to be provided at IFIA. Some specific requirements regarding flight navigational aids which currently exceed what now exists at the IFIA were outlined by AA. This is to ensure consistency of service during periods of unstable weather conditions, after commencement of operation.

Notwithstanding all the stakeholders’ best efforts, the implementation of these additional measures to meet AA’s requirements would take another 6-7 months. This is critical to ensuring a safe, reliable, consistent and seamless service.

The Ministry of Transport and Mining, through the JCAA and the AAJ, is committed to having the outstanding measures addressed within this timeline, while keeping the relevant parties abreast of the progress, to ensure that planning and implementation can be synchronized.

We acknowledge the importance of the new operations and the impact it will have on the tourism sector, especially in the northern region of the island.

The collective decision of American Airlines, the AAJ and JCAA is to ensure that we maintain proper international standards for the safety of crew and passengers.

While work continues from the Transport Ministry’s perspective, there will be ongoing collaboration and coordination with our tourism counterpart to ensure that all stakeholders are on board.

It is expected that the additional requirements will be in place by April 2023. AA has promised to announce a new commencement date.