A new regional aircraft launched here this morning – CARICOM Airways – will deliver cheaper, safe and more timely flights between St. Lucia and Dominica, its first route, Chief Executive Officer of the company, Rory Chin-A-Kwie, told reporters.
Chin-A-Kwie told the launching ceremony at the Canefield Airport that the 8-seater aircraft will officially start flights to and from St Lucia from January 2, 2011, but is hoping to start during the Christmas season. Flight costs are within the range of US $50 and $75.The flight is estimated to last 45 minutes.
The St. Lucian-based company is expected to make two daily flights to Dominica.
“At CARICOM Airways we want to ensure direct flights at a high frequency at a reasonable fare with a schedule that you can depend on…. Initially we will be starting off with Britten-Norman Islander, we’ve got two of these aircraft to the fleet and we’re adding another three. The aircrafts are very rugged airplanes. They are capable of operating into the most remote airstrips into our community and for that reason they will always remain part of our fleet,” he stated.
“In the near future, however, we’ll be adding brand new aircraft to our fleet. This USA-built aircraft will be able to operate at a very low operating cost… will be operating throughout this region from Dominica,” he said.
St. Lucia’s Tourism Minister Allan Chastanet, who addressed the function, said that this will work well for the Caribbean’s cruise industry.
He mentioned that CARICOM Airways will not be charging landing fees or departure tax in some destinations.
“In the case of Caribbean islands, St Lucia has exempted everyone from paying the departure tax for the first 24 hours. So there is going to be an immediate savings by using the Hewanorra Hub. The second things is, that St Lucia is not charging any landing fees on any flights that are coming in for connecting services,” he said.
Dominica’s Tourism Minister Ian Douglas echoed what he believes is the importance of the aircraft to the tourism industry here.
“Airlift to any destination is a very critical aspect of the development of the industry and so we’re very happy today to be welcoming CARICOM Airways to Dominica… and we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with you” he said.
“We want the visitor to come to St Lucia on a seven-day holiday but decide that they want to come to Dominica for two nights… So aviation plays that kind of role in the development of our tourism,” he stated.
He also said, “I really believe that that is a step in the right direction as we continue to develop Caribbean tourism, Windward Island Tourism, regional tourism and that is how we must look at it.”
Stakeholders from here and abroad gathered at the Canefield airport to witness the introductory flight of the aircraft into the island followed by a press conference.
The company’s website, caricomairways.com, states: “CARICOM Airways will introduce scheduled services from January 2011 between various destinations within the Eastern Caribbean. The first route which we will be introducing is between the islands of St. Lucia and Dominica. Thereafter our network will be expanded progressively until we reach that ultimate goal: Connecting all communities within the Caribbean community.”
According to the website, the company owns a fleet of three Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander, which carries a crew of two and a maximum eight passengers. The plane measures 4.18m in height and 10.86m in length.
“The BN-2′s performance makes it the ideal aircraft for flying in the interCARICOM region to airports our competitors can’t go. Quick turn around times combined with an immaculate safety record makes it our plane of choice,” the website also states.
People want larger planes but Dominica cannot fill them up right now. The man said there will be larger more economical aircrafts from the u.s operating from Dominica in future. From Dominica people, not to! From! This is a huge step. Hopefully with the cheaper flight n flights FROM Dominica this can fill up seats and boost tourism. Since is from Dominica I guess the planes will be based here
since is . . . “C – A – R – I – C i – O – M” this jack.. not in that
Mr CHIN A KWIE
That sounds good.. But!! why can’t the Windward islands open a new regional airline, instead of all these little mosquito airlines here and there…
is the plane’s them going to use. that’s a waste of time ,this is the time when people coming home for the holidays with lots of luggage and other stuff..these planes are best suited for private charter ,so that idiot from st Lucia just wasting Caribbean people time.Dr Gonzales was right them not ready yet.
YOU’RE RIGHT
The prices of tickets now is so expensive i think thats a good deal well done. right now if it have kites flying cross the caribbean i will take flight on them. it could be a one seater. i appreciate it.. and i will be using the services.
Allan Sanford fares were never as high as LAIT, no other Airline in the World is as high as LIAT for such shitty service. I for one and happy that I their is another Caribbean Airline.
With our help and Pray long may it continue, God knows we need another Airline other than LIAT.
Good move, the islands need this!
:Pleas people be Happy that something good is happening and we are moving to the next level
Thank God, and stop critising
We finish millions on Melville hall airport and we have to celebrate for a 8 passanger plane. Strupes.
Good options let us make it work,i will use it when i have too, have no issues there i couldm reach st.slucia before reaching Mellville Hall from Roseau
As long as they’re not charging me 60 us dollars for my second piece of luggeage like liat does i’m fine with it.
LIat need some compitetion they treat Dominicans toooooooooooooo bad espically in Antigua where they think they own Liat. I just hope they give travelers who are travelling on Jet Blue the opportunity to be abie to connect to their flights. there should be a flight late afternoon at about 4:30 from St Lucia and an early morning flight 9:00 from Dominica. We need that because we take the boat from St Lucia which makes your travel very long.
While it is good that a new airline is commencing services into Dominica, it’s still kind of sad to see that air traffic into Dominica is still below par with most other Caribbean islands. While a number of Caribbean countries are entering into partnerships with large airlines capable of transporting over a 100 passengers per flight, we in Dominica have to resort to celebrating the entry of eight seater aircraft and these sort of small planes which can be quite uncomfortable at times.
I hope that as business progresses, CARICOM Airways will eventually look into the possibility of acquiring bigger aircraft such as the Dash-8 types (similar to those of LIAT).
SHUT UP!!!!!! HOW DO WE GET ON PAR WITH THE OTHER ISLANDS WITHOUT HAVING EASIER AIR ACCESS INTO DOMINICA. DOMINICANS LIKE YOU ALWAYS WANT TO MOVE BACKWARDS FIRST. STEP ONE: EASIER AIR ACCESS TO HUBS; STEP TWO: WHEN AIR ACCESS IS EASIER UP COMES MORE HOTEL ROOMS FOR ALL THOSE 100 PASSENGERS PER FLIGHT!
BE HAPPY FOR DOMINICA THAT WE ARE FINALLY MOVING FORWARD WITH TWO AIRPORTS… WHATEVER THEIR CAPACITY FOR NOW.
If they don’t make it then they can easily pull their services back to Suriname and still survive. What pisses me off is that it is cheaper to fly to New York than within the OECS…stupid black-man economics. I still don’t believe that Nobel Laureate for Economics, Sir Arthur Lewis, was from the OECS. It is good to have choices.
I am not trusting this one nor!!! For now I will stick with my LIAT or Express
YOU BETTER BELIEVE THAT – – – THEM NOT EVEN TALKING SAFETY BUT CHEAP – – MY LIFE IS NOT ABOUT CHEAP; BUT ABOUT QUALITY
WHY SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS SETTLE FOR LOWER LEVELS OF EXISTENCE I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND
Aye i want first fligh out…. when the situation organise i flying st lucia every fortnight eh
we heard the same thing from billionaire allan stanford… they started with cheap fares to but before long had to raised their fare to that of liats. i give this airline till next summer to find itsself in the record books of airlines who came up againts liat and failed.
happy happy happy