CIVAIR: FAA TEAM HOLDS FINAL CONSULTATIONS WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000831

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR (BENT) AND EB/TRA (MATTINGLEY)
SOUTHCOM FOR J7 (RHANNAN)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR ECON ETRD JM
SUBJECT: CIVAIR: FAA TEAM HOLDS FINAL CONSULTATIONS WITH
JAMAICAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY

REF: A. KINGSTON 0292


B. STATE 13346

C. POWELL/MATTINGLEY/BENT 3/17/05 FAXES

D. 04 KINGSTON 1738

E. 04 KINGSTON 1683

F. 04 STATE 130299


1. (U) This message is Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU).
Please handle accordingly.


2. (SBU) Summary: On March 16, an FAA team led by FAA Flight
Standards Southern Region Division Manager Frederick Walker,
held final consultations with Transport and Works Minister
Pickersgill, Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) DirGen
Lewis, and other GOJ officials. Lewis and his team provided
a report on the status of JCAA's program to correct the
deficiencies previously identified by FAA in its
International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA). FAA and
JCAA delegation members reviewed the list of outstanding
issues, and Walker and JCAA DG Lewis signed a Record of
Discussion covering the day's proceedings. Walker informed
the GOJ representatives that, based upon the JCAA's
presentation and the discussions, he would recommend that
Jamaica not be downgraded, adding that FAA/Washington would
make the final determination in this regard. The Jamaican
reps welcomed the news. Not surprisingly, Pickersgill
quickly reported the news to the press. End Summary.


3. (U) An FAA Assessment Team, headed by FAA Flight Standards
Southern Region Division Manager Frederick Walker, visited
Jamaica March 15-17 to hold final consultations with the
Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA). The consultations
were part of FAA's formal reassessment of the JCAA under
FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program
(Regs B, F). The consultations took place on March 16 at the
JCAA headquarters in Kingston. A full list of participants
is at Paragraph 9.


4. (SBU) Minister of Transport and Public Works Robert
Pickersgill opened the meeting with a prepared statement in
which he welcomed the FAA team and emphasized the GOJ's
"political will" - up to and including that of Prime Minister
P.J. Patterson - to do everything necessary to address FAA's
concerns and to avoid a downgrade to Category Two. He
described intensive efforts by himself and by JCAA officials
since the FAA reassessment visit in December 2004, and
expressed, on behalf of the GOJ, official gratitude to FAA
Administrator Blakey and to former Ambassador Cobb for their
engagement on the issue. Pickersgill said that JCAA
officials were given "no leeway" on safety issues, and that
he had repeatedly instructed JCAA staff to refer any such
issues immediately to him to be shared with the Prime
Minister, and resolved.


5. (SBU) Following his presentation Pickersgill departed,
leaving Lt. Col. Oscar Derby, JCAA Deputy Director General,
to conduct a PowerPoint presentation addressing, point by
point, JCAA's program to address FAA's eight areas of
concern:

1) primary aviation legislation;
2) aviation regulations;
3) CAA organization;
4) adequate technically qualified personnel;
5) inspector technical guidance;
6) licensing and certification;
7) records of continuing inspections and surveillance; and
8) resolution of safety issues.


6. (SBU) After further discussions among members of the two
delegations, FAA team leader Walker informed Col. Lewis that
the FAA team would recommend that, based upon the team's
findings, Jamaica not be downgraded to Category Two, but with
a caveat: that FAA will, upon notification by JCAA, return
to Jamaica no later than August 2005, to ensure that the few
outstanding issues have been resolved. The FAA team prepared
a Record of Discussion covering the day's proceedings. After
reviewing the draft text with JCAA officials for accuracy,
Walker and Lewis signed it. (Copy faxed to EB/TRA and
WHA/CAR - Ref C.) At several points throughout the
discussions, Walker reminded the GOJ that FAA/Washington, not
his assessment team, would make the final determination
vis-a-vis Jamaica.


7. (U) Not surprisingly, Pickersgill held a press conference
the following day, March 17, to announce that FAA had found
that "...Jamaica continues to meet all international
standards with regard to aviation safety and oversight."

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (SBU) Pickersgill, Col. Lewis and all the GOJ
representatives present were extremely pleased and visibly
relieved by the FAA team's preliminary recommendation. In
fact, hours after the conclusion of the consultations, poloff
received a telephone call from a senior GOJ official who
expressed great enthusiasm at the news (which he and the
entire Cabinet had just heard directly from Pickersgill),and
reported that the Transport Minister was at that very moment
enjoying a celebratory drink in the canteen at Parliament.
Regrettably, politics being politics and Pickersgill an
aspiring prime minister, Pickersgill and Air Jamaica Chairman
Vin Lawrence have made several public (mis-)statements in
which they implied, among other things, that FAA is
responsible for the turmoil caused to Air Jamaica's
operations (numerous canceled flights, stranded, angry
passengers and diminished prestige for the national carrier),
without mentioning key factors such as the serious
operational deficiencies by Air Jamaica - under Lawrence -
and JCAA's earlier failure - under Pickersgill - to provide
proper, internationally required oversight.

--------------
List of Participants
--------------


9. (U):

GOJ

Robert Pickersgill, Minister of Transport and Public Works
Dr. Alwin Hayles, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport
and Public Works
Tony Kelly, Chairman, Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority
Arturo Steward, Deputy Chairman, JCAA
COL Torrance Lewis, Director General, JCAA
LTC Oscar Derby, Deputy Director General, JCAA
Marva Gordon Simmonds, Legal Counsel, JCAA
Howard McCalla, JCAA
Keith Hummel, JCAA
Nari Williams-Singh, JCAA
Ambassador Raymond Wolfe, Undersecretary for Multilateral
Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (MFAFT)
Claudia Barnes, Chief, Legal Affairs Unit, MFAFT
Gary Perkins, aviation consultant

USG

Frederick Walker
Sergio Lopez, Miami Int'l Field Office, FAA
Michael Jennison, Assistant Chief Counsel, FAA
Mayte Ashby, Senior Representative, FAA
Mark J. Powell, Chief, Political/Economic Section, Embassy
Kingston
TIGHE