Intra-Caribbean Air Expansion Takes Flight

Image: Plane approaching San Juan, Puerto Rico (Photo Credit: Brian Major)

by Brian Major
Last updated: 1:55 PM ET, Thu February 1, 2024

Caribbean tourism stakeholders have long sought solutions to high-priced, inadequate and sometimes unreliable regional air travel they say has limited intra-island tourism as well as travelers’ ability to island-hop.

In fact, while several Caribbean countries have posted record visitor arrivals in the past two years, “Many still face challenges posed by air connectivity issues and soaring costs,” said Nicola Madden-Greig, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

Yet that scenario is slowly changing, as key regional carriers expand their service between Caribbean destinations.

Meanwhile, a handful of Caribbean countries have expanded the service provided by their national carriers while others have launched new ones.?

Regional Renaissance

Routes recently launched by regional carriers include Turks and Caicos-based interCaribbean Airways’ non-stop flights between Bridgetown, Barbados, and Kingston, Jamaica slated to begin February 6.

Trevor Sadler, interCaribbean’s CEO, called the new service “a direct response to the growing need for improved travel connectivity in the Caribbean.” In her statement, Madden-Greig praised “recent expansion initiatives by local carriers” including interCaribbean.

The airline’s new flights enable “convenient one-stop connections” for travelers flying from southern Caribbean countries including Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, Sadler said.

Another regional airline, Tradewind Aviation, is flying between Antigua and Anguilla through early April. Tradewind has a codeshare agreement with British Airways and will also fly between St. Barts and Anguilla through April 8, and between San Juan and Anguilla through April 8.

Cape Air, another regional carrier, will operate a daily flight between Cyril E. King International Airport in St. Thomas and Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport in Anguilla beginning March 8. Connecting itineraries are available on the websites of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue Airways, according to company officials.

Caribbean airport travelers in Saint Lucia

Flag Carriers Expanding

Caribbean destinations are also benefiting from an expansion of service from national carriers. Cayman Airways launched direct flights between Grand Cayman and Bridgetown, Barbados in October of 2023. The Cayman flag carrier also added a second flight to Los Angeles, increasing service to twice weekly, in November.

Cayman Islands minister of tourism Kenneth Bryan said the new departures are part of the government’s strategy to expand the airline’s operations “into the eastern Caribbean market.”

“This new service is a game-changer for regional connectivity,” said Bryan. The new flights “will make it possible to travel from one side of the Caribbean to the other within the same day without connecting through Miami,” said Bryan.

He added, “I know that for all the Bajans on island and Caribbean nationals here who call these islands home, this unprecedented level of connectivity will be welcome news.”

Bermuda’s national carrier, BermudAir, will launch thrice-weekly flights between Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Bermuda’s L.F. Wade International Airport beginning March 18.

And the Dominican Republic late last year launched Arajet Airlines, a low-cost national airline flying to Costa Rica, Colombia and Jamaica.?

Cost Barriers

While intra-regional service is growing, the high cost of airfare in the region remains a barrier to wider travel among Caribbean destinations, say stakeholders.

“Unfortunately, barriers to growth persist for intra-regional Caribbean air travel,” said Philippe Bayard, CEO of Haiti-based carrier Sunrise Airways, in a March 2023 statement.

Citing high government aviation taxes which generate high airfares, Bayard said the “outmoded taxation system governing commercial aviation in the Caribbean” has operated as “a veritable economic handbrake, preventing expanded intra-regional connectivity” and the creation of “new multi-destination leisure and business travel options.”

Others have echoed that sentiment. At a 2022 Caribbean Tourism Organization conference, Peter Cerda, regional vice president, The Americas for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said Caribbean destinations “are running the risk of pricing themselves out of the global travel and tourism market where passengers have more choice than ever before.”

Still, several Caribbean destinations have posted record arrivals over the past year despite the intra-regional challenges.

Madden-Greig attributed the “uneven distribution of this success among destinations” to “persistent challenges in air connectivity and escalating costs faced by many areas.”?

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