Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Air Jamaica is about to take another swing at tying up more of the Eastern Caribbean market by expanding flights to the region and switching hubs to target islanders and tourists on their way to the continents.

The airline was cagey on its projected loads in and out of the islands, but said it plans to boost the number of flights to St. Lucia and Barbados next January.

The move appears to be an attempt by Air Jamaica to capitalise on a growing travel market in St. Lucia, which is expanding its hotel industry and is fast becoming a more popular Caribbean tourism destination.

208 flights annually

Air Jamaica plans to fly to the two islands - Barbados is already well established as a high-end tourism destination - four times per week, up from three, pushing annual flights to each island to 208.

Director of community development and marketing for Air Jamaica, George deMercado, told the Financial Gleaner that the move is intended to increase the airline's passenger count on that route by about 20 per cent.

That market includes St. Lucians who live in New York, but is primarily tourists from New York who visit St. Lucia, the airline executive said.

Declining comment on Air Jamaica's market share in the Caribbean, deMercado said the timing was not an attempt to consolidate share ahead of the launch of the rebranded BWIA.

"It has nothing to do with BWIA," said deMercado Thursday. "The St. Lucia/Barbados service has performed very well since we resumed service to St. Lucia in February."

The airline executive said the demand for service to the Eastern Caribbean was growing.

"Hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada but that country has recouped and St. Lucia is getting more hotel rooms," he said, adding that Air Jamaica has seen load factors in the high 80 per cent during the summer.

The airline was not prepared to discuss the added cost of offering the expanded service, nor projected revenues, but said it would allow greater utilisation of the fleet of 16 aircraft.

"Air Jamaica will be flying a plane somewhere where it would otherwise be sitting on the ground," said the executive.

Timing

He said the new flights were timed after the high-traffic Christmas season, noting that the airline would have to make leeway for the additional business it expected for Jamaica in that period.

The fall, which is generally a soft travel season, was not a good time, either, according to deMercado, who said the fleet undergoes repairs in that period.

The plan to move the hub for Eastern Caribbean flights to North America from Kingston to Montego Bay will be implemented September 11.

"This will add more connectivity and create more possibilities of carrying passengers to the Eastern Caribbean from North America," said deMercado.

Air Jamaica provides 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.

Its code share deal with Delta gives the airline access to 150 U.S. cities.

It also flies to New York, Grenada, St Lucia and Barbados, and offers intra-regional service to The Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Cuba, Curacao and Grand Cayman.

- susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com