Fly Jamaica inaugural flight delayed

(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica’s newest carrier Fly Jamaica will not take to the skies on its inaugural flight today, January 25, as was announced seven days ago.

It is not clear when the airline will now take flight; however, it has cited its booking system as the reason for the disruption. The carrier’s first flight was scheduled to depart for the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, from the Norman Manley International Airport today.

In a message to customers on their Facebook page on Tuesday, Fly Jamaica said: “The operation of this flight was contingent on the bookings made on our website but regrettably, a test run of the site revealed some technical problems that threatened the scheduled launch of the site; the effect of which resulted in persons being unable to complete bookings.”

In the interim, the airline has asked passengers to contact them at 1-855-4flyjam. However, calls made to that number went straight to an automated voice message which disconnected shortly after.

The airline in its message gave the assurance that every effort was being made to rectify “these glitches”.

Travel agents ‘up in the air’

Iflyn the meantime, calls made to a number of travel agents revealed that not many of them knew how to book a seat, the schedule or the price of the tickets on the new carrier.

“Outside of the official launch of the airline, we know nothing else, so we are up in the air because we are being called by persons who want to book seats,” said a travel agent who preferred to remain anonymous.

Fly Jamaica Airways received its air operating certificate in September 2012 from the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority. The certificate is its licence to operate as an airline. In late December 2011.