Expanded air service keys soaring Caribbean visitor growth

Once-fractured air network offering unprecedented connectivity

Brian Major

Image: Frank Comito (right), CEO and Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

Image: American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are both expanding their service to the Bahamas.

PHOTOS BY BRIAN MAJOR

Nothing – including storms, limited access to infrastructure capital, and even pressure from competing global destinations - seems able slow Caribbean destinations’ booming tourism growth. While several factors are responsible for the region’s sharp visitor growth, a key element has been a substantial increase in flights to the region from a growing roster of North American gateways.

The Caribbean’s soaring airline deployments are transforming what in prior years was a fractured air network into a deep and reliable resource for Caribbean-bound travelers. Within the past two years alone major airlines have not only significantly increased the number of flights they’ve dedicated to Caribbean destinations, but also those flights’ frequency.

Regional airlines have mirrored the major carriers’ Caribbean service expansion, while also establishing code-sharing agreements with major airlines. The combination provides travelers with a relatively exponential selection of Caribbean flight options compared with previous years, while also offering travel agents opportunities in markets across the country.

Caribbean government and tourism agencies have also played a large role in the airlines’ wider deployment, opening several new airports and significantly upgraded and expanded existing facilities across the region. The increased airlift and new facilities have in turn fed the Caribbean’s booming hotel and resort sector with new vacationers.

“Increased airlift coming into the region from North America and Europe is at a record pace,” said Frank Comito, CEO and Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA). “An increase in arrivals and activity, as well as the amount of hotel investments, points very positively to where the region is headed.”

Comito said “all the major carriers serving the region” have announced plans for new and expanded service into the Caribbean within the past several months. Meanwhile regional carriers have also expanded their Caribbean flight schedules. Comito said regional carrier InterCaribbean Airways served a dozen locations in five destinations only four years ago but now serves 22 airports in 13 countries

Comito also cited “the completion of several airport expansions in recent years and cited more than a dozen other airports which are under construction or are in the planning stage.”

A boon for Travel Agents

Top vacation-selling travel agents say Caribbean flight schedules have expanded significantly. “There have definitely been new routes added from Southwest and Jet Blue to some unique destinations in the Caribbean like Barbados, and added service to Jamaica and Punta Cana,” said Jennifer Doncsecz, president of VIP Vacations.

“I’ve noticed a very significant increase in the frequency of flights to the Caribbean even in just the last year alone,” agreed Joel Scholtz of New Jersey-based Cruise Planners. “Caribbean visitors are up and the easier the airlines make it for people to get there the more this market will continue to grow.”

Still, Doncsecz says there have been some reductions in the market. “We have noticed a trimming of flights from the major carriers which used to operate several options per day from key gateways like Newark, Philly and Baltimore.

“Gone are the two- to three-flight daily options with varying times to a certain destination like Mexico, or Jamaica,” she added. “Many airlines have pulled flights this fall, perhaps reflecting on the crazy hurricane season this past fall.”

Reduced flight schedules translate into higher costs for travelers to the region, Doncsecz points out. “Fewer options mean higher costs, and sadly the consumer is the one that will pay. It also forces clients to relook at their budget and perhaps downgrade their hotel,” she said.

Adds Doncsecz, “This means travel consultants need to be careful when estimating costs if flights haven’t been released yet. Southwest and JetBlue don’t release flights like the major airlines at eleven months prior and often release them only six to nine months ahead.”

Nevertheless Scholtz says he’s found success with the expanding Caribbean flight network. “My business has grown 400 percent over this time period,” he said. “I’m in New Jersey so I have the convenience of multiple airports to offer with so many options to the Caribbean and Mexico seven days a week. Philadelphia, Newark and JFK are all within driving distance,” he said.

“My business is romance travel so I book many destination weddings and honeymoons to the Caribbean with convenient non-stop flights seven days a week,” Scholtz added.

Destination deployment

Several destinations have announced new service within the past six months. Officials at the St. Kitts Ministry of Tourism announced this month that Air Canada will launch new flights to the dual-island nation for six months during the 2018-2019 peak season. The non-stop Saturday flights will depart from Toronto beginning November 3, 2018 and extending through April 27, 2019.

“I could not be more pleased to welcome this additional flying, which expands the options for visitors and diaspora from our key Canadian source market to get to island,” said Lindsay F.P. Grant, St. Kitts’ minister of tourism, international trade, industry and commerce.

Bonaire’s government, represented by Tourism Corporation Bonaire, also announced expanded service this month, via three new non-stop flights from Miami International Airport to Bonaire International Airport aboard American Airlines beginning December 15. The additional flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through March 30, 2019. American will also launch weekly Saturday flights to Bonaire from Miami on June 9.

“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with American Airlines to provide additional non-stop service to Bonaire,” said Maurice Adriaens, director of Tourism Corporation Bonaire. “These flights will allow us to generate more traffic to the island concurrent with the expansion of our hotel and villa inventory.”

The new Bonaire flights are part of American Airlines’ continued Caribbean expansion. In May the carrier announced new flights to four staple Caribbean travel destinations: Aruba, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Turks & Caicos.

With the new deployments American becomes the first U.S. carrier to serve St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), which last year opened the long-awaited Argyle International Airport. American will offer year-round Saturday service to SVG from Miami, providing the fledgling airport with its second major carrier.

American will also offer new flights to Aruba (AUA) from Orlando and Dallas-Fort Worth; and to the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos from Orlando. American has also established new flights to Eleuthera and Marsh Harbour in The Bahamas from Charlotte, N.C.

Even Caribbean destinations already heavily served by major airlines are benefitting from expanded flight schedules. In addition to its new American Airlines flights, Delta is adding a second daily flight from New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Nassau beginning October 1. On May 3, national carrier Bahamasair launched new service flights from Miami International Airport to South Bimini Airport via a 50-seat ATR 42 aircraft.

Delta will also launch new flights between New York and Antigua beginning December 22. American Airlines earlier this year announced it would add a second daily flight to Antigua from Miami.

An Impressive Comeback

Meanwhile Caribbean destinations hard-hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September have largely resumed prior flight schedules.

Dominica has “full connectivity to international and regional markets” with regular flights offered by regional carriers including LIAT, Seaborne Airlines, WINAIR, Air Sunshine, Coastal Express Carrier and InterCaribbean Airways said officials at the Discover Dominica Authority. This spring, InterCaribbean launched nonstop services between Dominica, St. Lucia and Tortola.

Reaching the British Virgin Islands, another Caribbean territory hard-hit by September’s storms, “has never been easier,” according to Sharon Flax-Brutus, director of tourism, as InterCaribbean is offering expanded service between San Juan and Tortola.