Tourism and airport officials in St. Maarten are making a heavy pitch to Southwest Airlines for the carrier to start service to the Caribbean island-appearing quite confident that it will happen as early as next year.
According to the St. Maarten Daily Herald, a delegation of island officials including representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (TEATT), and Princess Juliana International Airport, met with Southwest Airlines officials at the annual Routes Americas Conference in Las Vegas.
Southwest has not commented on the potential route, although it has blown open its roster of routes ever since adding international destinations in 2014.
"It bodes well for the country to have an airline like Southwest's interest; if they choose a destination it's because they believe it is a healthy and profitable one," Rolando Brison, a marketing and tourism consultant who traveled with the delegation, told the paper. "In my closing remarks for the meeting, we told the team that they could expect the full commitment from all stakeholders including government, airport, hotels and many others."
[READMORE]READ MORE: All Southwest Planes To Have Wi-Fi By End Of 2017 [/READMORE]
One official told the paper that Southwest told the St. Maarten delegation that it was "not a matter of 'if,' but 'when' the airline would begin service to St. Maarten." Due to a temporary reduction in Southwest's fleet in 2017 for maintenance purposes, 2018 is seen as a more realistic start date for the airline.
Currently, six U.S.-based airlines fly to St. Maarten - American, United, Delta, JetBlue, Spirit and Sun Country.
According to the Daily Herald, the St. Maarten delegation has made tentative plans to travel to Southwest's headquarters in Dallas to be followed by at least two functional visits by Southwest officials.
The first of these visits will be operational in nature, observing the airport operations and meetings with Government and civil aviation. The second visit will be from a marketing and product development perspective, where the team will come up with co-op marketing plans and assessment of the hotels and attractions the island has to offer.
Of course, if it comes to pass, Southwest will join the airlines who make one of the most dramatic landings in aviation history when they arrive at Princess Juliana International Airport.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
