Business

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica's cruise sector remains buoyant despite civil unrest which has rocked sections of the capital city, Kingston.

Two of the region's largest cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, said they planned to go ahead with calls here this week.

"We know Jamaica very well and have been there for years. Things that happen in Kingston over the years never affect the resort areas," Brendan Corrigan, Carnival's senior vice-president of marine operations, told The Gleaner Tuesday.

Corrigan said three of Carnival's ships - Destiny, Conquest and Liberty - would bring approximately 10,000 passengers into Montego Bay and Ocho Rios this week. And that figure does not include the more than 3,000 crew employed to the company.

Both resort towns are on the island's north coast, many miles away from the battle zone.

According to the cruise executive, he was not concerned at the moment, but was monitoring the situation closely and hoped that the Government would return the city to normality quickly.

No mobay cancellations

Word from chief commercial officer at MBJ Airports Limited, Elizabeth Scotton, is that there have been no cancellations at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

"We are fairly insulated in Montego Bay. Most of the airlines know that most of their people are going to the north coast," she said.

Scotton said arrivals for the first two weeks of the month were about the same level as the first two weeks of 2009.

"This is very positive. Average aircraft movement at the airport is 258 per week, with approximately 53,700 passengers inbound and outbound," she told The Gleaner.

However, the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston has been hit by a number of cancellations as airlines operating into the capital city cancel late-night movements, opting for daylight re-routing.

Air Jamaica advised yesterday that its Toronto flight was resche-duled to leave that city this morning at 7 to arrive in Kingston at 10.

All the airline's Fort Lauderdale and New York flights have also been affected by the unrest in Kingston. The airline said passengers should contact Air Jamaica's reservations centre at 1-888-FLYAIRJ (1-888-359-2475) in Jamaica or 1-800-523-5585 in North America for updates and to revise their itineraries.

British Airways yesterday diverted its London flight - scheduled to arrive in Kingston - to Sangster.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com