With the winter tourist season approaching, a number of airlines in North America have announced new schedules and routes to the Caribbean.
Earlier this month, Spirit announced that for 2019, it will add another two routes to Jamaica – Kingston and Montego Bay – from its new home base in Orlando.
“We’re excited to be back in Orlando announcing even more destinations,” said Bob Fornaro, Spirit Airlines chief executive officer. “The new routes to Colombia and upcoming service to Jamaica … will cap off our largest-ever expansion, and we’ve seen a wonderful response from both our guests and Spirit team members.”
The new route from Orlando to MBJ will begin on Febuary 28, 2019 and will be traversed four times weekly. A day later, on March 1, the three-times-weekly route to Kingston will take flight.
Other new flights were announced from Orlando to St Thomas, US Virgin Islands; Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; and Santo Domingo, among other cities in Latin America.
From as early as July, Spirit had announced new routes to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Cancun, located on the Caribbean tip of Mexico.
“Beginning November 8, 2018, Spirit will start daily non-stop service from Newark Liberty International Airport (in New Jersey, USA) to Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. On December 20 Spirit will grow again and begin non-stop seasonal service between Detroit Metro Airport and Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Montego Bay Jamaica running three times weekly,” a statement from the company said.
“Both Jamaica and Dominican Republic are known for their hospitality and beauty, and are incredible options for winter vacations and family reunions,” explained Spirit Airlines Vice-President of Network Planning Mark Kopczak, reasoning the airline’s economical fares should make it the first choice for travel to the Caribbean.
In August, Delta announced via a release that for the upcoming winter season it will add more flights to its JFK (New York) to Nassau, Bahamas, and JFK to Kingston, Jamaica routes. The addition of new flights will increase the frequency of flights to Nassau and Jamaica to daily. Daily flights to Nassau began on October 1, while the Kingston route will increase come December 20.
“This winter, Delta will operate over 100 flights per week to 15 Caribbean destinations from JFK,” the airlines stated.
New routes to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Antigua were also announced, both to start on December 22.
In June, tour operators Vacation Express disclosed that it will start offering new, direct flights from Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) to MBJ and expanding direct and non-stop flights from Detroit to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic starting January 2019.
Vacation Express is a subsidiary of the Canada-based Sunwing Travel Group, with Sunwing Airlines designated to be the carrier of passengers from Detroit to either Punta Cana or MBJ.
“We are excited about adding more flights from Detroit; we know Jamaica will become a popular destination for us this winter,” Kevin Hernandez, VP for marketing and sales at Vacation Express stated.
In August Sunwing Airlines declared it will add another seasonal route, from Sudbury in Canada to Donald Sangster International Airport, to complement an already established seasonal flight service to Punta Cana.
Yet another airline from Canada announced a new service to MBJ commencing on December 16, 2018 and ending April 24, 2019.
Swoop, a subsidiary of WestJet Group, disclosed the new service will transport passengers from John C Munro Hamilton International Airport to Sangster International Airport twice weekly.
