The Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the Air Access Committee of Discover Dominica Authority have successfully negotiated an additional 2016 seats into the destination from two new flights added by Air Antilles.
The flights will commence on November 1, 2018, departing Pointe-a-Pitre (PTP) at 9:00 pm to arrive in Dominica at 9:30pm on Thursdays and Sundays.
The aircraft will overnight in Dominica and depart the next mornings (Fridays and Mondays) at 5:30 am to reach Pointe-a Pitre at 6:00 am.
The flights will terminate for the season on March 29, 2019.
During this period, a total of forty-two (42) flights will operate on the ATR 42 with the capacity of 48 passengers, allowing for movement of up to 2016 in and 2016 out of Dominica.
These flights allow travelers to connect from the following international flights:
• Norwegian: from JFK, New York
• Air France: from Paris Orly
• Air Caraibes: from Paris Orly
• Corsair: from Paris Orly
• Level: from Paris Charles de Gaulle
• XL Airways: from Paris Charles de Gaulle
With the introduction of this new service, travelers to Dominica will benefit by having same day connections and also from a cost standpoint.
Travelers will have same day access from JFK into Dominica via connections with the low cost carrier Norwegian Airlines and similarly same day connections from Europe and especially France at reasonable rates from airlines departing from Paris Orly.
Tour Operators, travel agents, and consumers will have visibility of these flight in the Global Distribution System (GDS) and on popular online travel agent sites allowing for a myriad of ways to book your adventure to Dominica.
Furthermore, Air France will offer a codeshare with Air Antilles on these flights allowing for greater visibility of the flights on the Air France website and network and offering travelers additional benefits of that code share arrangement.
According to Colin Piper, Director of Tourism, “while there are a number of ways to get to Dominica these flights were planned to offer connections to Norwegian to take advantage of their lower fares, and also to provide alternatives and convenience in same day access to travelers from Europe and the US to get to Dominica.”
Leisure visitors, as well as Dominicans residing abroad, are expected to take advantage of this new service when planning their travels to the Nature Isle.
Just receveived the periodical promotions from CaribbeanReunion Club in London; Return Antigua £487, return Dominica £661.
It costs a staggering 36% Moreno fly the 114 Miles from Antigua to Dominica, a 30 minute flight by Liat and that does not include the cost of overnighting. This is plain crazy and a great disincentive to visit my home country.
From Point a Pitre airport to Meville Hall (DOM) is only 52 miles and Air Antilles listareturn price of €183 for that.
Dominica is NOT being well served by LIAT, and IMHO this must change. I’ll use Barbados as my example, as that is where I would connect from.
Currently, there are 2 BGI-DOM (direct) flights a day: LI 302 9:30-10:30; LI 364 13:45-14:45. (Yes, one can still fly via Antigua to DOM, but who wants to sit there for 4-6 hours to do so?)
Here’s what arrives in Barbados between 12 noon and 3 pm (and thus too late for the second flight): JetBlue (Miami) 12:30; Air Canada (Toronto)13:30 (plus Westjet 2x week at about the same time) ; American Airlines (JFK) 14:53; Virgin (Manchester) 14:55; BA (London) 15:05. Nobody can get to DOM the same day!! Especially since LIAT does not offer baggage connections and one must clear customs and check in separately for the LIAT flight, so add a minimum of 2 hours in Barbados.
From all comments, people want a same day connection. Why is this an insurmountable obstacle for LIAT to provide?
Not to mention BGI-DOM-BGI on the same day…
And then let’s set up Air Dominica!
Finally! That’s all we need!
LOL. Didn’t Skerrit sell that to Ross University in his July letter but Ross didn’t buy it since they wanted direct flights from the USA and Canada? While they are quick to talk about a connecting flight from Guadeloupe, compare that with our neighboring island. First St. Lucia: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/st-lucia-to-get-additional-flights-from-american-airlines-jetblue-and-united-airlines
Then Barbados in particular, since that’s where Ross chose to build their future http://www.caribbean360.com/travel/american-airlines-adds-new-flights-to-caribbean-this-winter.
Now trust me they did not tell us but that might mean Dominica might lose their Air Antilles flight from SJU since most people might prefer to fly from Guada. Also both Seaborne and LIAT will get affected from their SJU flights. They might want to take credit now but I wouldn’t be surprised that the daily boat from Guada might be affected as well since people are not busy to visit Da and the new daily boat from…
9 to 9:30 pm? Is there night landing still nah?
Such a silly comment.
Don’t you all say that on a regular basis Prime minister Skerrit enter and leave the country under the cover of darkness? This is your problem no consistency on matters. This can be construed in two ways, either you are hypocritical or dishonest.
AirAntilles???? I do hope they improve their customer service. They do not answer their phones, emails or even FB messages. It took me to track down the CEO all the way in Guyana to receive a response from the Guadeloupe office. I went the Guadeloupe route since the agent in Dominica gave me the wrong email address for the contact in Guadeloupe and they themselves could not event assist in a credit I was owed.
Also if for any reason the flight is cancelled due to bad weather they do not refund your credit card if that is the form of purchase but send you a wire transfer 6 months later which your bank charges you for.
I am saying all this to say that if you choose to fly on Air Antilles ask about their refund policy and be prepared to get no response from all forms of communication. This is from a party of 4 who each had the same experience dealing with them.
how does this help people travelling from the UK this route is longer plus adds another plane ride from UK to France is this progress in 2018 unbelievable
I guess this is primarily targeted at passengers from the U.S.A. (traveling to Guadeloupe on Norwegian) and perhaps France. The timings are awkward though for the latter with a long wait fore connecting to Paris. I do hope they have inter lining agreements with the connecting flights and so avoid re checking in Guadeloupe.
Also, the night time arrival in Dominica and early morning departure only gives the flight crew (3) some 5 hours of sleep. I don’t know where they would overnight. Preferably close to the airport without the need for a long drive. Any passengers from the Roseau area would have to leave home by say 3.00 am. to make that flight. I would say this connection is an option but personally, I would chose a ferry at a more decent hour and lower cost. It really would have been useful to build the so called “Moroccan” hotel at Melville Hall as originally intended.
Kidnapping parrot look like u are one of the late comers for landing late In da u need to do your research or come and train them
Thats the way Dominica should go. Get frequently connections to the international Hubs in the Region. Dominica needs not a new airport Dominica needs only better connections by air and se . Put the money allready saved for the new airport in infrastructur, like roads, hospital, schools, investmentprogramms for the touristsector etc.
Get everthing build up from the ground thats the sucessfull way for your beautiful island.
Mr Hans a real european friend of Dominica
actually Dominica does… but this can work while they BUILD the airport… then we can get direct flights into Dominica if the demand is there simple…. It’s always a hassle to leave and enter Dominica juggling connecting flights, overnighting and such….
What is the status on the promised direct flight to DA from florida?
That’s promising but the majority of Dominicans reside in England not France.
Good job, now get LIAT to amend their schedule so that they leave B’dos at 4:30 to allow same day arrival into Dominica
agreed. liat need to service Dominica with a later flight out of Barbados.
this is fundamental adjustment liat must make in dominicans best interest.
we can’t continue to have a liat flight departing Barbados prior to the arrival of all international flights.
Now I hear something good I’m tired of being over night in the Caribbean they should have one on a Thursday from da to sm
How is this going to help when people get to Dominica after 9:30 at night? Will there be ground transportation available to get them to their final destination or will they get stuck at Melville Hall till the next morning? Will the pilots have the training to land at the challenging Dominica airport at night? Some pilots do not want to land in Dominica at night because of the mountains.
I guess that depends on whether you think that taxi fellows want to make money or not. I’m pretty sure they do.
But 5 out of the 6 connecting flights are from Paris. How many people travel from Paris to Dominica?
Maybe I missed something, but the flights are to and from Guadalupe to DA . Guadalupe has planes with the connections ro go elsewhere like France, US, Britain, etc..
Not only that, from Guadeloupe you can connect to Trinidad, Jamaica, the entire French Caribbean (Suriname, St Martin, Martinique, Haiti etc), Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bahamas etc, etc DIRECT. SO that island hopping the entire Caribbean ta-la-la with LIAT to go just dere can be avoided.
Politics is so toxic in this little island, any step forward and a group will oppose to ridicule it like its poison.
Once your’re in Paris you can connect to anywhere in Europe. The problem is that Dominicans think they alone use the airport. If you want stay over tourism, then you gotta target areas that have the most stayover tourist in our area. Most foreigners buying property to build in the Northeast are of European descent, and usually not British.
Also the Antigua to UK line sends you to Gatwick, you want to travel to other European countries, or to connect to Africa/ Asia, you got to go to Heathrow airport (in the same London area, but a 40 min bus ride from Gatwick).
An airport in these small OECS islands cant be profitable with only locals flying. not with our small populations. Not even if little Canefield airport was our only outlet.