Jamaica Prepares to Welcome its Newest Airline, Oriole Limited
by Daine Taylor
Oriole Limited, the start-up, low-cost Jamaican airline, is preparing to make its debut next year, becoming the newest airline in Jamaica.
“This initiative has been in gestation for a significant amount of time; it’s been researched, stress-tested, and always come through in flying colors,” said Keith Kerr, Oriole’s CEO. “The Jamaican market is booming and is ripe, with the right proposition, to have great success.”
The airline will operate domestic flights consisting of an hourly shuttle between Kingston and Montego Bay, as well as regional flights servicing Barbados, Curacao, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The venture’s Chairman Aloun Ndombet-Assamba said the company is being backed by investors from Jamaica and Europe, and that the project is currently 80% funded along a five-year path, with the opportunity for further capital expected from a planned initial public offering, following the carrier’s commercial launch phase.
Ndombet-Assamba said that several airlines, including Air Jamaica and Fly Jamaica, have failed to sustain services on the island, and that it’s time for a “new bold vision” for Jamaican aviation.
The start-up airline plans to lease aircraft for its fleet, with no word yet on what model of aircraft or how many the carrier will acquire.
Oriole is expected to launch officially in March of 2021.
