CASTRIES, St. Lucia – Daily non-stop flights from New York to St. Lucia on Air Jamaica are close to reality, insists St. Lucia’s Minister of Tourism, Phillip J. Pierre.
Shortly after the airline inaugurated its new thrice weekly non-stop flights to the Caribbean island, Minister Pierre told reporters that St. Lucia eventually wants the Caribbean carrier to boost its schedule beyond Thursday, Sunday and Monday flights. “I’m sure, based on how St. Lucia’s tourism industry is performing right now, that is not a pipe dream and very shortly, St. Lucia will be receiving daily flights from Air Jamaica,” he declared.
Michael Conway, CEO of Air Jamaica
be better. “St. Lucia is in the middle of a revolution in our tourism development,” he said citing more than US$500 million investment in the sector, “so we need the airlift to bring our visitors to St. Lucia.” He added, “this service will fill a void that is needed not only by visitors, but our locals, our people who live in the US and St. Lucians who want to visit New York.”
Air Jamaica Chairman O.K. Melhado said Air Jamaica looks forward to working with the public and private sector in St. Lucia in a successful partnership, while Michael Conway, the airline’s new chief executive officer, said Air Jamaica was especially delighted to return to St. Lucia on the occasion of the island’s 27th independence anniversary.
“We are also delighted to be part of the major expansion that’s going on in St. Lucia which coincides with the expansion of Air Jamaica. You will be hearing a lot more of the things we are going to be doing in this region. We have just finished a major restructuring at the company and our reliability and on-time performance now ranks at the top of the industry,” said Conway, who hinted daily service may come sooner than expected.
Allen Chastanet, a former Air Jamaica executive who is now President of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, welcomed his old company’s return to his native island. “We missed you and we are all very happy to have you back,” said Chastanet, as he echoed Minister Pierre’s remarks on the auspicious timing of the service. New resorts, major renovations and re-openings, new golf courses and new attractions, are all part of the upswing taking place in St. Lucia, said Chastanet. “This is a phenomenal destination and we have tremendous opportunity ahead of us,” the hotelier said as he urged all stakeholders to keep St. Lucia in the spotlight.
Air Jamaica provides more non-stop flights to Jamaica than any other carrier with more than 270 flights per week from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York (JFK), Orlando, and Philadelphia in the U.S., Toronto, Canada and from London to Montego Bay and Kingston.
The airline also offers intra-regional service with flights between Jamaica and Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao, Cuba, Grand Cayman, Grenada and St. Lucia. The airline’s code share agreement with Delta Airlines, its joint fare arrangements and compatible schedules with United, and other U.S. carriers, extends its access to over 150 cities within the Continental U.S.
