Alberto Velasquez Sanchez. Director of Aerocaribbean

<b> “Up, up and away” </b>

The rising of Aerocaribbean has marched hand in hand with the country’s successes, especially in the tourist front, Mr. Sanchez explains. The company of today is not the same of the 1990s. For a number of years, the airline has been moving over 120,000 passengers in domestic flights on an annual basis.

In keeping with both responsibility and efforts amid an ever-growing demand, the company has buttressed its different development options and it has now become an airline that flies beyond the national boundaries. The goal behind this endeavor is to help meet increasingly higher requirements within the Caribbean region and Central America.

Mr. Sanchez underscores that the company is now facing up to much bigger challenges after being put through its paces in terms of entrepreneurial improvement, something that its employees and front office label as a huge step forward. In the same breath –he says- Aerocaribbean is striding its way toward the strengthening of its own Quality Management System (QMS) under registration ISO 9001/2000. Last November, VERITAS BUREAU (BVGI) and Cuba’s National Standardization Office (NSO) presented the carrier with the QMS Certification.

“As we speak, the heart of the matter is to make the working team be fully aware of the need to hold on tight to those achievements, and make the whole staff think and act in line with those results,” Mr. Sanchez comments. “This allows customers to see the positive changes that have taken place inside the company for the sake of better services and higher quality standards.”

<b> New Fleet and New Missions </b>

Another major feather in Aerocaribbean’s hat is that the company absorbed all the tasks formerly conducted by Havana-based Aerotaxi. “Thus,” Mr. Sanchez goes on to say, “Aerocaribbean is now in charge of choosing aircraft for the renewal of the fleet with ATR and the addition of EMBRAER 110 jetliners. Of course, our fleet has expanded and transformed itself gradually, yet we’re still unpleased because we’ve got some plans in the pipeline that imply new challenges, both in terms of marketing efforts and in the quest for higher efficiency.”

As to the way the air carrier fared all through 2003, Mr. Sanchez admits that was a really tough year every step of the way in which the world was shook by a profound financial crisis. However, “by the end of 2003, the company not only had completely walked out of the woods, but had also made significant headway in such major fields as entrepreneurial improvement and quality, two indicators that have certainly been up to par with our expectations. The completion of national and international flight schedules was attained beyond all previous estimates, and for a national enterprise, that’s no doubt a remarkable achievement,” he indicates.

On the other hand, “safety and security indicators were strictly observed as we wrapped up the year without any accidents whatsoever. We know this is a key player when it comes to keeping our image clean and getting a good name for ourselves,” Mr. Sanchez notes.

<b> More Efficiency and Bigger Revenues </b>

In referring to the economic side of things, Mr. Sanchez says to be pleased with the upshots and added that “in 2003, Aerocaribbean went one better in all fronts. First of all, costs were way below what we’d planned. In addition, even though we had to go to great lengths to reap good earnings in national currency, at the end of the day we made it big in both currencies. This clinched higher efficiency levels because we’d reckoned some 496,000 pesos and eventually the company raked in $1.2 million in both currencies.”

Furthermore, cargo transportation also held its own, chiefly as a result of a merger the airline signed with the CUBANACARGO Enterprise.

<b> More Routes and Destinations </b>

As far as the main destinations covered by the company in 2003 are concerned, Mr. Sanchez highlighted the new lease on life that operations with Montego Bay have gotten in the first place. Other major routes the company has tried its hand at are Cozumel, Cancun and San Pedro Sula (Honduras), as well as San Jose (Costa Rica), Guatemala, Martinique, Mexico D.F. and Caracas.

For the ongoing year, Aerocaribbean has plans to regularize operations with Grand Cayman Island and Port au Prince (Haiti), as well as with Santo Domingo, probably with the intention of adding another flight.

In the domestic front, Mr. Sanchez praised the excellent ties between his company and Cuba’s National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER is the acronym in Spanish) since Aerocaribbean is the official carrier of Cuban athletes to international competitions overseas. Another issue worth taking note of is the airline’s tighter grip of such domestic destinations as Cayo Coco, Holguin and Santiago de Cuba.

Mr. Sanchez made clear that Aerocaribbean is setting aim at an assortment of high-end goals, including efforts to beef up its hold on the Cuban market and continue reaching out to the Caribbean and Central America via both regular and charter flights.

“Our top mission consists of supporting the growth of the island nation’s tourist industry. The further local tourism develops, the more responsibility Aerocaribbean will have in that context and the more efforts our company will be bound to make in order to meet ever-growing demands, both in Cuba and in the Caribbean. We’ll continue improving our service to further please our customers. We must make sure that our slogan is heard louder than ever: “Aerocaribbean, Safe and Friendly.”