01 AUG 2019: Fly Jamaica hasn’t been flying since March, but it has new owners who have high hopes for a planned relaunch in early September. The airline began operations in February 2013. In March this year it was forced to suspend operations following the hard landing of its sole operating aircraft at its base in Georgetown, Guyana.

Now, an international group of investors including Jamaican aviation veteran Glenn Logan and Yann LeProvost of the French-based company W&Y SAS, has taken over the operations and Logan said new planes will be acquired on a lease-to-purchase basis.

“This is significant to restore confidence in the Jamaican people, the flying public and the tourism industry in Jamaica. We are not just going to concentrate on the ethnic market, but also the tourism market. It is essential for the survival of the tourism market, for us to concentrate on this,” said Logan.

He says most of its revenue won’t come from scheduled seat sales but from vacation packages through charter flights via a subsidiary – Fly Jamaica Vacations.

Logan previously worked at other airlines over the years including British Airways, Air Jamaica, Air Canada and Canada 3000 among others.

He has promised to pay off outstanding salaries within the next two weeks, ticket refunds and other debts.

First order of business is regaining its airline operating certificate from the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority.

That done, Fly Jamaica plans to fly its previous routes to New York and Toronto, and might add Fort Lauderdale and Atlanta.