Air Jamaica was the national airline of Jamaica. It has been owned and operated by Caribbean Airlines since May 2011. Caribbean Airlines Limited, headquartered in Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, had administrative offices for Air Jamaica located at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Jamaican government was formerly the owner of Air Jamaica. It sold the airline to Caribbean Airlines in 2011, which resulted in the Jamaican government's owning 16% of Caribbean Airlines.

According to R.E.G. Davies in his Airlines of Latin America Since 1919, the first incarnation of Air Jamaica was founded on August 27, 1963 after the government of Jamaica decided not to invest in British West Indian Airways (BWIA). Dubbed Jamaica Air Service Ltd., its shareholders were the government of Jamaica (51 percent), the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, which would eventually evolve into British Airways) in association with the Cunard Line (33 percent), and BWIA (16 percent). BWIA′s employees in Jamaica were transferred to the new airline. Service to Miami and New York began on May 1, 1966.

BOAC, Britain's major international airline at the time, and BWIA had continued to maintain the leased aircraft (this operating arrangement would not expire until the end of May 1969). However, the Jamaican government preferred a more independent approach and eventually prepared to establish a new company, Air Jamaica (1968) Ltd.

Air Jamaica was established in October 1968 and started operations on April 1, 1969, connecting Kingston and Montego Bay, with New York and Miami. At that time the Jamaican government owned a substantial part of the airline, with Air Canada owning a minority share (40 percent) and providing aircraft (one DC-8 61 and three DC-9s), pilots, technical, maintenance and logistical help.

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