KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the Jamaican government must divest all financial holdings in the state-owned airline because the ailing carrier is a drain on the cash-strapped island's budget.

Golding said Air Jamaica has cost the country more than $100 million since 2004, when the government took over the airline and began a restructuring.

But the struggling carrier has continued to eliminate routes and lay off workers as it attempts to turn a profit.

"The money we are spending to keep Air Jamaica going, we can spend that to improve our education and try and improve our hospitals and try and fix some roads," Golding said in a statement.

Golding said he has instructed the Ministry of Finance and Public Service to launch negotiations with private companies to get the national carrier off the government's books.

Sen. Don Wehby, who holds a senior position in the ministry, has said he hoped to divest all holdings in Air Jamaica by March 2009 at the latest.

Golding's comments come more than three months after Air Jamaica's chief executive, Mike Conway, abruptly resigned after two years at the helm of the Caribbean nation's carrier, which has been operating for 37 years and employs some 2,500 people.

Calls made to Air Jamaica's corporate offices in Kingston went unanswered.