CAL gets new GM

Howard Hall, the former general manager of Air Jamaica, has resigned after seven months at the airline, which was taken over by Caribbean Airlines (CAL) last year. He has been replaced by William Rodgers, CAL said in a statement yesterday. Rodgers had previously served as acting president and chief executive of Air Jamaica in late 2007. In an interview with RJR News in Jamaica, Hall said he was given specific duties to be carried out during the transition period and now that the tasks were completed, he felt it was time to move on. “First of all I was under the impression that I was to come to Air Jamaica to deal with the divestment and the transition. That job is pretty much finished now and it’s time for me to move on,” Hall told RJR News yesterday.

Hall said he ended his tour of duty on good terms with CAL. CAL marked it’s takeover of Air Jamaica three weeks ago and chose to retain the the airline’s brand. CAL’s statement said while the board accepted Hall’s resignation, the board has conducted audits of the AJ operation and expected better results in customer care and profitability in that order. “We need to provide strong leadership in order to build trust between our employees and the travelling public since we know they have a choice in air travel. Our long-term strategy is to have two brands, one Caribbean airline, and our focus is also on customer experience.

“Our executive management team draws from the best from both companies, and this will be a distinct advantage as we move towards our expansion plans and, more specifically, moving the Air Jamaica brand to its former glory,” said CAL chairman, George Nicholas. He continued: “Mr Rodgers, our Acting General Manager has had a long and distinguished career at Air Jamaica and is currently in charge of sales for the airline. We believe in the resolve of our staff to make our ambitious plans a reality.”
Nicholas added: “We need all of our teams functioning as one with the purpose to be the best in the Caribbean, and I look forward to the Jamaica team being in the top five among our station rankings this year.

“The airline is as good as its employees and it is only through their efforts will we make this airline a global success.” Hall, is the second chief executive to exit during the three-month tenure of Nicholas.
Two weeks after Nicholas assumed his chairmanship of the national carrier, he fired former CAL chief executive Captain Ian Brunton over a disagreement about the state-owned airline’s decision to purchase nine ATR turboprop aircraft.