Ok so yet another news piece which doesn't in anyway whatsoever surprise me has been revealed to the public, this news is a report that the deal which the government signed with American Airlines for them to continue operating certain routes to Jamaica which they were considering cutting due to their non-profitability (that word may or may not be made up). To give you a little history on the deal at the time (I shall try to make it as understandable as possible) essentially the deal said this:

1) The government will pay AA to continue to fly routes which it wanted to drop because it wasn't making any profit off them... Even though many of these routes were already being operating on (with profit) by Air Jamaica. The reason given was that:

"the decision to sign an agreement with AA was based on its ability to move persons from across North America to the gateways. American will be able to get persons from communities from around the airports and Air Jamaica does not have the planes going into the communities around the gateways," Bartlett argued.

2) America will not fly if the flights are booked to less than 65% (I'll get back to this in a second)

3) The government will pay AA if those routes travelled have more than 65% but less than 75% seats. So in other words if 74% of the plane is filled on any flight travelling to Jamaica, the government will cover the revenue which would have been made on the other 26% on EACH flight. Interesting tidbit of information I have learned from my friends who work in the airline industry, EVERY flight is booked with ghost bookings, essentially about 10 or more seats are booked even though no actual person has actually booked themselves on the flight, its some strange logic that I dont understand but is used. I'm sure you realize the problems which occur already here, I mean American could simply book their flights up to 74% each time and the government would have to pay for each flight.

4) America will make 19 new flights to Jamaica each week. So in addition to the previous number of flights (I will guesstimate a low number of 25 flights), AA will fly 19 new flights to Jamaica so thats 44 flights which America will make to Jamaica each week that it simply cannot lose money on because the government will pay them for it.

Ignoring the fact that Air Jamaica was never given a deal of this nature, I wont go further into the deal, after all its been done, signed seal and delivered. Instead I'll focus on the fact that apparently this deal which only gives the Jamaican people the POSSIBILITY of making a profit, vs a DEFINITE profit for AA was faulty *insert sarcastic Gasp here*. According to this article published yesterday:

1) The contractor general (Greg Christie) stated that Lynch signed contracts with American Airlines prior to these being submitted to and/or approved by the Cabinet, despite the fact that it was indicated to him that Cabinet approval was a condition for the award of the contracts. Christie said, to date, he has seen no proof that there was Cabinet approval for the airlift guarantee deal.

2) The evidence which has been presented to the OCG (Office of the Contractor General) has indicated that JAMVAC initiated the deal with American Airlines, and not the other way around, as was falsely asserted by the Honourable Edmund Bartlett in his Cabinet submission.

3) In essence, the OCG has not been provided with physical evidence to indicate that other alternatives were weighed by JAMVAC before it was decided that JAMVAC would enter the air service agreements with American Airlines

Now I will be compl etely honest here, I believe that even if this deal had gone through the proper channels this deal would still have passed because it is a part of the GOJ's plan to screw Jamaica in as many ways as possible before it loses power. However Ed Bartlett actually replied to the findings of the contractor general... with the blatant error that he actually had addressed NONE(Not a single one) of the findings of the CG's investigation. So what was the point of the letter then?

Personally I hope that Ed Bartlett goes to prison, or at least is forced to suffer in some way because of what he has done. He has signed Jamaica to an agreement that really gives us the short end of the stick, and the only people who suffer as a result is the Jamaican people. As of such he needs to become answerable to the Jamaican people and I am sure that many of them agree with me when I say. You need to go to prison and do hard labour until you have repayed every single dollar you have wasted.

But hey we all know what will happen, this will just fade to black like every other case that deals with politicians... Oh yea dont forget to pay AA the money you owe them due to this deal Mr. Bartlett.