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Boyz left hanging
Air J's London route sale places JFF's travel deal in doubtBY Dania Bogle Observer staff reporter bogled@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
THE Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) may have to revisit its previous deal with American Airlines if it is unable to get subsidised rates on Virgin Atlantic Airways to fly players to and from London for international games, according to president Captain Horace Burrell.
BURRELL... I've not got a satisfactory response from Air Jamaica
Both the JFF and the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) have deals with Air Jamaica under which the national football and netball teams fly at discounted rate on routes the airline services.
The JNA's deal, worth $9 million, became effective April 1 last year and will run until March 31, 2009, while the JFF in September 2006 signed a $35-million four-year contract, renewing a deal first established in 2000.
Both deals were thrown into question when Air Jamaica sold its London route to Virgin Atlantic, which became effective on October 28 last year.
When the Observer contacted Virgin Atlantic, its Caribbean Sales & Marketing Manager Rachel Pilgrim said in an e-mail response the company would not be able to honour any contracts between Air Jamaica and other corporations.
Pilgrim intimated that sporting bodies could ask Air Jamaica directly if they would honour the contract on the London route as "... they'll be purchasing seats on our aircraft at very heavily discounted rates and may be in a position to pass these on...".
However, Burrell, who took over the JFF presidency on November 4 last year, told the Observer he contacted Air Jamaica chairman Shirley Williams upon assuming office and was directed to senior vice-president for sales & marketing Paul Pennicook with whom he had spoken on three occasions but had not got a definitive response.
"My disappointment to date is that I've not got a satisfactory response from Air Jamaica," said Burrell.
Meanwhile, JNA president Marva Bernard told the Observer she had also written to, and was still awaiting a response on the status of the deal from Pennicook.
Pennicook told the Observer: "The agreement applies to routes that Air Jamaica flies... the situation has not arisen (but) any trips would have to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis."
However, Burrell said footballers need to fly business class when travelling from the United Kingdom, which is quite expensive, and if the JFF was unable to get subsidised rates, then it would become necessary to once again approach American Airlines with which the JFF had a deal between 1995 and 2000.
"To be fair to our players, we can't expect them to fly nine to 10 hours across the Atlantic, play a tough game, fly another nine to 10 hours and then go back to their clubs," Burrell said.
"Clubs will not want to release players unless they are assured of flying comfortably. anything less than business class is not an alternative."
Burrell said the JFF were already feeling the pinch as it cost them millions of dollars to fly players home for two home friendly internationals against Guatemala and El Salvador last November.
"We had to pay full business class fares to fly them from London to New York, some came through Miami to Kingston," he said.
Jamaica play their next friendly international against Costa Rica at the National Stadium on February 6 and checks with a local travel agency showed that a business class airfare from London in and around that date would cost between $203,000 and $493,000.
"Rather than have our players have the inconvenience of the long flight across the Atlantic, our other alternative is to go back to American Airlines, which was a faithful partner to the Reggae Boyz for many, many years and which was always there for us," Burrell said.
He said when Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, American Airlines made special arrangements to fly the team from Miami to Paris.
Meanwhile, Pilgrim said the JFF and JNA also had the option of applying to Virgin Atlantic for assistance with rebated tickets. "Depending on numbers and time of year, we may be in a position to assist," she said via e-mail.
JNA boss Bernard said it was an option her association would be willing to explore.
Bernard said that for national netball teams to retain a respectable world ranking, flying overseas to play practice Tests against top-ranked teams would be crucial, while Burrell said the country's hopes of qualifying for South Africa 2010 could be severely hampered if the situation was not amicably resolved.
Air J's London route sale places JFF's travel deal in doubtBY Dania Bogle Observer staff reporter bogled@jamaicaobserver.com
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
THE Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) may have to revisit its previous deal with American Airlines if it is unable to get subsidised rates on Virgin Atlantic Airways to fly players to and from London for international games, according to president Captain Horace Burrell.
BURRELL... I've not got a satisfactory response from Air Jamaica
Both the JFF and the Jamaica Netball Association (JNA) have deals with Air Jamaica under which the national football and netball teams fly at discounted rate on routes the airline services.
The JNA's deal, worth $9 million, became effective April 1 last year and will run until March 31, 2009, while the JFF in September 2006 signed a $35-million four-year contract, renewing a deal first established in 2000.
Both deals were thrown into question when Air Jamaica sold its London route to Virgin Atlantic, which became effective on October 28 last year.
When the Observer contacted Virgin Atlantic, its Caribbean Sales & Marketing Manager Rachel Pilgrim said in an e-mail response the company would not be able to honour any contracts between Air Jamaica and other corporations.
Pilgrim intimated that sporting bodies could ask Air Jamaica directly if they would honour the contract on the London route as "... they'll be purchasing seats on our aircraft at very heavily discounted rates and may be in a position to pass these on...".
However, Burrell, who took over the JFF presidency on November 4 last year, told the Observer he contacted Air Jamaica chairman Shirley Williams upon assuming office and was directed to senior vice-president for sales & marketing Paul Pennicook with whom he had spoken on three occasions but had not got a definitive response.
"My disappointment to date is that I've not got a satisfactory response from Air Jamaica," said Burrell.
Meanwhile, JNA president Marva Bernard told the Observer she had also written to, and was still awaiting a response on the status of the deal from Pennicook.
Pennicook told the Observer: "The agreement applies to routes that Air Jamaica flies... the situation has not arisen (but) any trips would have to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis."
However, Burrell said footballers need to fly business class when travelling from the United Kingdom, which is quite expensive, and if the JFF was unable to get subsidised rates, then it would become necessary to once again approach American Airlines with which the JFF had a deal between 1995 and 2000.
"To be fair to our players, we can't expect them to fly nine to 10 hours across the Atlantic, play a tough game, fly another nine to 10 hours and then go back to their clubs," Burrell said.
"Clubs will not want to release players unless they are assured of flying comfortably. anything less than business class is not an alternative."
Burrell said the JFF were already feeling the pinch as it cost them millions of dollars to fly players home for two home friendly internationals against Guatemala and El Salvador last November.
"We had to pay full business class fares to fly them from London to New York, some came through Miami to Kingston," he said.
Jamaica play their next friendly international against Costa Rica at the National Stadium on February 6 and checks with a local travel agency showed that a business class airfare from London in and around that date would cost between $203,000 and $493,000.
"Rather than have our players have the inconvenience of the long flight across the Atlantic, our other alternative is to go back to American Airlines, which was a faithful partner to the Reggae Boyz for many, many years and which was always there for us," Burrell said.
He said when Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup in France, American Airlines made special arrangements to fly the team from Miami to Paris.
Meanwhile, Pilgrim said the JFF and JNA also had the option of applying to Virgin Atlantic for assistance with rebated tickets. "Depending on numbers and time of year, we may be in a position to assist," she said via e-mail.
JNA boss Bernard said it was an option her association would be willing to explore.
Bernard said that for national netball teams to retain a respectable world ranking, flying overseas to play practice Tests against top-ranked teams would be crucial, while Burrell said the country's hopes of qualifying for South Africa 2010 could be severely hampered if the situation was not amicably resolved.
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