Why CAL grounded Montego Bay, Kingston to Ft Lauderdale routes

In a media release on September 23, Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) announced that effective November 2, it will discontinue flights between Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Montego Bay and Kingston in Jamaica as part of its ongoing network optimisation programme which would include a continuous evaluation of routes for the sustainability and efficiency of the airline across its entire network.

In January 2019, CAL discontinued its non-stop Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale route and consolidated its South Florida service through Kingston.

CAL resumed operating flights from Kingston to Fort Lauderdale since December 2024, and Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale since March 2025 using a leased all-economy class Boeing 737-800NG with 189 seats.

CAL said that the decision to restart the service was based on customer feedback and targeted the 300,000 plus Jamaicans living in Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding areas.

Flights on both routes operated with less than breakeven load factors which begs the question about any robust market research that was done to justify the resumption of the two routes.

According to aviationdb.net (Aviation Database) as reported in the Jamaica Observer of September 24, the Kingston to Fort Lauderdale route had 5,859 available seats in May, but only 1,892 passengers utilised the service. That translated to a 32 per cent seat utilisation rate with 31 departures. Spirit Airlines had an 80 per cent seat utilisation rate with 6,899 seats available and 31 departures for the month. JetBlue Airways had an 88 per cent seat utilisation rate with 10,454 seats and 68 departures.

The Fort Lauderdale to Kingston route had a 29 per cent seat utilisation rate or 1,675 passengers in May for CAL with 5,859 seats. Spirit Airlines had a 69 per cent seat utilisation rate while JetBlue’s rate was 86 per cent for the same route.

The Montego Bay to Fort Lauderdale route for CAL had a 39 per cent seat utilisation rate in May over 31 departures with 2,271 passengers relative to 5,859 seats. Southwest Airlines had a 58 per cent seat utilisation rate with 510 passengers compared to 875 seats and five departures for the month. JetBlue had a 75 per cent rate with 9,966 seats over 66 departures while Spirit Airlines had a 77 per cent rate with 7,025 seats over 31 departures in May 2025.

The Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay route for CAL had a 40 per cent seat utilisation rate over 31 departures with 2,361 passengers. Spirit Airlines had a 77 per cent rate over 31 departures with 5,377 passengers while JetBlue Airways had a 79 per cent rate over 65 departures with 9,804 passengers. Southwest Airlines had an 81 per cent rate over five departures with 709 passengers in May.

CAL's attempts to attract passengers with promotions such as discounted mileage redemptions and reduced fares failed miserably to achieve higher load factors.

Chief commercial officer, Martin Aeberli said. “Caribbean Airlines remains steadfast in its mission to connect people and communities across the region and beyond. We will continue to serve Jamaica and the diaspora through other gateways within our network.”

Despite Aeberli’s optimism, CAL is not the Jamaican diaspora airline of choice as they see CAL as “not we airline” which is symptomatic of the unacknowledged deep sociopolitical divide between TT and Jamaica. The Jamaican diaspora prefer to travel with other competing airlines.

With the proposed cessation of Air Jamaica (AJ) operations, the governments of Jamaica, TT and CAL on May 26, 2011, signed an agreement that allowed CAL to operate seven return routes from Jamaica to North American destinations: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, New York (JFK) Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

The agreement allowed CAL to use the “AJ” brand which was valued at US$28.5 million and when converted into equity, gave Jamaica a 16 per cent shareholding in CAL. Under the agreement CAL would assume the responsibility for any losses on the seven routes. CAL rehired hundreds of former AJ employees such as pilots, flight attendants, maintenance personnel and ground handling personnel.

This entire arrangement between the governments of Jamaica and TT over CAL and Air Jamaica has been misrepresented by the media and other key stakeholders. There was never a merger of CAL and AJ or a takeover of AJ by CAL by sale or otherwise.

Instead of making hundreds of million of dollars on these routes as forecasted, CAL lost hundreds of millions because of poor load factors on most of the routes.

In 2012, CAL operating loss was TT$629,942,000. Effective April 2013, CAL dropped three loss-making routes and reduced the frequency on the other routes.

In May 2013, Jamaica’s minister of transport and works informed the Parliament that CAL had cut the number flights in and out of Jamaica, a move with which the government of Jamaica disagrees as the number of flights were way below that originally agreed with CAL.

Subsequently, a Jamaican delegation led by the minister met with a TT delegation to resolve the impasse. CAL justified its decision by pointing out that the Jamaican diaspora travelled with other airlines causing the routes to become unprofitable.

Surprisingly, the minister stated that the Jamaican diaspora was upset with CAL for not hiring enough Jamaican citizens at the line stations.

This was vehemently debunked by CAL which provided statistics to show that Jamaican citizens comprised a significant portion of its work force at the lines stations. CAL further stated its corporate VP-human resource with responsibility for staff recruitment was a former AJ employee.

A second meeting was held in Jamaica at which CAL held its ground and the matter eventually fizzled out.

The approximately one billion TT dollars injected into CAL by the People's Partnership government was converted into equity and the resulting share dilution reduced the Jamaica government’s shareholding in CAL to 11 per cent.

It is important to note that even though CAL still employs hundreds of Jamaicans, during CAL’s financial turbulence from 2011 to this day, the Jamaican government has not put a single dollar into CAL’s coffers, a burden that is carried by the TT taxpayers.

During the tenure of the last government, the almost one billion dollars injected into CAL were never converted into equity.

And finally, why is CAL’s logo a scissors tail hummingbird which is the national bird of Jamaica, instead of the scarlet ibis?