26/09/06 - Air Jamaica increases flights to St Lucia and Barbados

Air Jamaica has announced an increase in service to the Eastern Caribbean nations of St Lucia and Barbados, effective January 11, 2007.

George deMercado, senior executive of Air Jamaica, announced that the airline will boost its non-stop schedule from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Hewanorra International Airport in St Lucia from three to four weekly flights, adding northbound and southbound flights on Wednesday to the current Sunday, Monday and Thursday rotation. The JFK-St Lucia service continues to Barbados which thus also benefits from the increased flights.

"The St Lucia /Barbados service has performed very well since we resumed service to St Lucia in February," said deMercado, who noted that load factors have been particularly strong throughout the summer season. "We have a very special relationship with the Eastern Caribbean and are happy to see it grow strategically over the past six months," he said.

The veteran airline executive said he regretted that Air Jamaica could not operate the new schedule earlier but due to a traditionally soft Fall season and unavailability of aircraft during the Christmas peak, the flight increase had to be targeted for January.

However, he announced that effective September 11, 2006, Air Jamaica's hub flights between Jamaica and Barbados and St Lucia will move from Kingston to the Montego Bay hub on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, offering seamless connections to and from its US gateways. One exception, said deMercado, will be the Sunday southbound flight from Jamaica to Barbados and St Lucia which will leave Jamaica from Kingston. Connections from Montego Bay to Kingston and onto the Eastern Caribbean will still be possible on Sundays, he added.

Using state-of-the start Airbus A-320 aircraft, with 138 seats in economy and 12 in first class, Air Jamaica offers non-stop service from New York's JFK International Airport to St Lucia (with continuing service to Barbados) on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, departing New York at 7:00 a.m. and arriving in St Lucia at 11:35 a.m. On the return leg, the airline departs St. Lucia at 6:35 p.m. and arrives in New York at 11:15 p.m.

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, 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. Air Jamaica also offers non-stop service between New York (JFK) and Grenada; New York and St Lucia; and direct service between New York and Barbados.

Air Jamaica offers intra-regional service with flights between Jamaica and The Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Cuba, Curaçao, Grand Cayman and St Lucia. The airline's code share agreement with Delta Air Lines, its joint fare arrangements and compatible schedules with United Airlines, and other US carriers, extend its access to more than 150 cities within the continental United States.