ORLANDO – Jamaica’s tourism industry continues to demonstrate positive outlook in the country’s economy, with Jet Blue’s inaugural flight from Orlando, Florida to the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Monday (February 8) with 65 passengers on board.
This flight marked the beginning of a daily non-stop flight from the busy and lucrative tropical Orlando/Miami area to Jamaica’s tourist capital, Montego Bay, by way of a Jet Blue100-seater aircraft. This increases to four the number of flights being operated by the carrier between the USA and Jamaica.
Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Regional Director, Rose-Marie Johnson, said that the flight symbolized a very strong show of confidence in destination Jamaica by Jet Blue Airlines.
“Today is a very upbeat day for Jamaica’s tourism. It is a very good show of confidence in the destination, in the fact that Jet Blue has launched another service into Jamaica. That means that the confidence in the destination is very high and we are very appreciative of Jet Blue, our strategic partner,” Ms. Johnson told JIS News.
She said it was very important to have these airlifts into Montego Bay for it to be successful.
“I would say that they have certainly helped in the success we are experiencing just now,” she noted.
She hinted that current successes were set to be multiplied when three new destinations are launched on Thursday.
Manager of Jet Blue Caribbean and Latin American operations, Chad Meyerson, told JIS News that Montego Bay and Jamaica’s air travel have been ‘incredibly successful’ for the organization, and are the most successful in Jet Blue’s history.
He said that Jet Blue was always looking for destinations customers want to travel to, and where the airline feels it offers a superior product to serve its customer-base.
“Honestly, Montego Bay and the entire island of Jamaica is a destination that has been requested by Jet Blue for many years, and everything came together last year,” he said.
“We have since seen such a great response in this market, and that has to do with not only the USA customers loving this as a vacation destination, but also the Diaspora from the United States coming back to visit and participate in the events here on the island,” Mr. Meyerson told JIS News.
He reiterated that the airline started with just one flight to Jamaica, which has since been increased to four.
“We are now going to focus on nurturing and cultivating these markets, getting them built up and making sure that the awareness is there, not only in the US markets, but for Jamaicans here who want to go New York, Orlando or Boston,” Mr. Meyerson told JIS News.
