By Vernon Khelawan Thursday, September 20 2012

IF discussions between Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) and Southwest Airlines in the United States continue the way they are going, it won’t be long before arrangements for certain kinds of exchange programmes can be put in train.

This has come about from a visit last weekend by CAL chairman Rabindra Moonan and his deputy Mohan Jaikaran to the facilities of Southwest at Dallas, Texas. The two CAL directors held extensive talks with top level Southwest executives and were able to view some of the airline’s operations, including their state-of-the-art simulator training module.

“We can learn quite a few things from this efficient airline,” said Moonan. “We were able to look at some of their systems, including baggage handling. Our discussions augur well for the future in terms of information sharing and for training purposes.

“There was also opportunity to talk about maintenance and the possibility of their assistance in this regard,” added the chairman. Southwest operates some 500 aircraft all being 737s of different ages, while CAL operates less than 20 of the same aircraft type.

Moonan said that there will be arranged soon the opportunity for shared visits, which could lead to greater training opportunities for CAL’s personnel. Speaking about visits a high-powered Jamaican delegation was in Trinidad yesterday for talks with the CAL board and management team.

Meanwhile CAL has been granted permission by Guyana’s civil aviation authorities to operate non-stop between Cheddi Jagan International Airport and Toronto’s Pearson International for the next three years. Cal will now join EZJet on that route and expected to soon to jump into the fray is Fly Jamaica Airways.

At Piarco there is heavy ongoing training on the company’s latest aircraft type the B-767-300ER, which is expected to be put on the London service shortly. Already pilots and cabin crews are flying around on the aircraft which is expected to make a proving flight to London next week. The aircraft would also be deployed on the Toronto and New York services.