Buckling under more than US$300 million in debt, Air Jamaica has now taken the dramatic step of immediately suspending flights to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. News of this was announced on Friday night and the debt-ridden airline which has returned to Government control, said the suspension would last for the next four weeks. According to news reports out of Kingston, the move has sparked bewilderment and anger in the travel industry, as well as fears that Jamaica’s tourism industry could suffer heavy damage. “Effective immediately, Air Jamaica flights between Jamaica and Barbados, Jamaica and Grenada, and Jamaica and St Lucia have been suspended due to the new accelerated maintenance schedule required by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA). The full schedule will resume on April 16, 2005,” the airline said in a statement. Jeanette Greaves, managing director of Gem Travel said her agency had been reluctant to book persons on Air Jamaica recently after it started cancelling flights, but the airline had become extremely popular with travellers. Many from Jamaica came to Barbados and more Barbadians visited Jamaica. Over the past ten years, the airline had lost US$678 million which, the former managers under the chairmanship of Gordon “Butch” Stewart said, was due to a series of events beyond their control, such as the United States ruling that Jamaica did not meet the standard for aviation oversight infrastructure. Reprinted from nationnews.com