Air Jamaica Buoyant about Barbados, Eastern Caribbean

Air Jamaica’s new schedule to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean routes is exceeding expectations, reports the airline’s Vice President of Sales, George de Mercado.

Mr. de Mercado reports that the carrier’s new nonstop daily service between New York and Barbados, with continuing service to St. Lucia (four days a week) and Grenada (three days) is delivering good returns, following the decision by Caribbean Airlines (formerly BWIA West Indies Airways) to pull out from the Barbados-New York route.

Air Jamaica is the national carrier of Jamaica and also is the designated flag carrier of Barbados. During a recent visit to Barbados to mark 10 years of service to the island, the airline’s president and CEO, Michael Conway, reiterated Air Jamaica’s commitment to the island and the Eastern Caribbean region.

Mr. Conway added that now that the Government of Jamaica has approved restructuring plans, “we will be doing some re-fleeting, route rationalization ... and have identified the Eastern Caribbean and particularly Barbados as a major point of emphasis for the airline,” hinting that additional flights were in the works in the months ahead.

Air Jamaica provides more nonstop flights to Jamaica than any other carrier with more than 270 flights per week from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York (JFK), Orlando, and Philadelphia in the United States; Toronto in Canada; and from London in the United Kingdom to Montego Bay and Kingston.