American Airline makes first direct flight to Dominica from Miami today

American Eagle

Today will mark an historic occasion for Dominica when the country welcomes its first direct continental flight from the United States.  

American Eagle will land at the Douglas Charles Airport at 3:00pm today making this a breakthrough in air travel for Dominica. The flights will be coming from Miami, Florida.  

Two flights will also arrive every Wednesday and Saturday and the schedule is expected to upgrade to three flights. Back and forth travel is also included as round trips will be available.  

Parliamentary secretary in the ministry of Tourism, Chekira Hypolite said this major event will be broadcast live on all media platforms.  

“This Wednesday, we will also be adding to the exciting start of the 2021 Christmas season with the first direct flights from the US. We wish we could invite everyone for the celebration at the newly revamped Douglas Charles airport, but as we know with covid-19 protocols, we will have to invite you to join us all on social media platforms.  

She also invited the public to play a part in promoting ‘destination Dominica’ to make the demand to visit Dominica “so high that we will have daily flights from the US”.   

Meantime, during an interview with Q95FM Radio, Manager of  Jungle Bay Resort, Samuel Raphael, said this initiative is a dream come true and asked Dominicans for their support to ensure longevity of this new service. 

He said this will make flights more convenient for all and as a result bring more revenue to the tourism sector and according to him, will also fulfil the dream of getting direct flights to help with Dominica’s  airlift challenge.  

“I’m a hotel owner and there are many Hotel owners and other people that are tourism providers in Dominica. Air access has been one of our biggest challenges and this is the beginning. This is not the end of it all but this is the beginning of something new so this is very important. We should celebrate and support this new service to ensure its sustainability,” Raphael declared. 

He said great amount of work and negotiations went into this project starting with the efforts of the former Minister for Tourism to the current minister, Denise Charles as well as the Discover Dominica Authority (DDA) under Colin Piper, as well as the Dominica Port Authority.   

Raphael made special mention of the government’s ability to convince American Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the middle of Covid-19 with such uncertainty and volatility in the market.  

“They all had to come on board and work together and together they did achieve that so I’d like to give them credit because it didn’t just fall from the skies. It’s a gift for us in tourism yes, but it’s not a gift that fell from the sky without effort. There was a lot of effort that went into this,” he stressed.  

The hotel proprietor also noted that the planes coming in are small and can only carry a maximum of 76 people. He said ticket prices will be costly and expects people to complain about this as “everyone wants convenient and everyone wants cheap.”  

“Well, we’re going to get convenient. It’s not going to be so cheap now, but certainly, we’re going to continue to grow the service and when the new airport is built and they can bring in larger airplanes that’s when I think we’re going to see a dramatic drop in prices,” he stated.

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9 Comments

  1. Mark
    December 11, 2021

    @Wesley Girl, you are so right about this guy Telemaque and his “so full of it”, always posting all this nonsense about himself that no one cares about.
    FYI, persons with any type of wealth generally try to keep it confidential and not broadcast it to the rest of the world so my take is, he is just another Joe blow who is currently living in America and trying to survive like the rest of us.
    If he is truly so well off, why is he not in Dominica enjoying his golden years free from the violence, racism, police harassment just to name a few that occurs in America daily? Don’t say it’s because of Skerrit because no one should desert their country because of some politician unless they’re just looking for an excuse. America is a place for working people (Production) and not for sitting around (Retired).
    He needs to go back and enjoy all that clean air in Dominica, drink some Coco jelly, take a sea bath, laugh with some of his old friends and live like a so called King in Wesley.

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  2. Nudibranch
    December 9, 2021

    Tourism gas been begging for this since the early 90s. It’s about time. The first scheduled flight non stop from the US outside of election time.
    If and when we get the international airport we hope for direct flights from Europe along with the mail we are all desperately looking for.

  3. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    December 9, 2021

    It is my observation that the article said American Airline and in the same article it said American Eagle.
    American Airline and American Eagle are two different entities.
    That in the picture is American Eagle which once operated in Dominica and left.
    They did not fly jets in into Dominica then from Puerto.

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  4. JOhnny Jno Baptiste
    December 8, 2021

    This is the st ate of journalism in Dominica where a historic flight was made and I don’t see any photos and news about the flight? No photos of water salutes? Wow… give me a break .

    ADMIN: DNO and several outlets covered it live. You can also find a more in depth article and photo gallery here: https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/dominica-welcomes-its-first-official-american-eagle-direct-flight-from-miami/

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      December 9, 2021

      That is not historical, way back in 1959/1960’s private cargo aircrafts flew into Dominica where they would buy agricultural products from a few farmers.
      His main supplier was the late Denise Prevost.
      The arrangement halted when sales for the products shrunk.
      He suggested he would buy as much cucumbers as he could get, Denise told him, he supply all he wanted, problem was the buyer was not interested in the regular large cucumbers we have at home, he needed the pickle type thy use in America.
      He gave Denise the seeds, who planted them, reaped a crop, and decided it was a waste of time growing such small cucumbers which he thought was not profitable enough for him.
      Hence, that was the end of the flights from Miami to Dominica!

      Hot debate. What do you think? Thumb up 1 Thumb down 26
      • Wesley Girl
        December 10, 2021

        No doubt next thing you telling us you were a shareholder of this ‘enterprise’. I mean you as a serial entrepreneur. King of Wesley. OOOOMG! You are so full of it!

        Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 25 Thumb down 2
        • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
          December 10, 2021

          I do not have any time to waste arguing with uneducated thieves; thieves who depend on Roosevelt Skerrit to survive.

          I have worked all of my life; went to college and University; accomplished a lot; retired on honest money, I am not looking over my shoulder and expected to give account to police about where I got money to buy my properties in America, nor what I built for my sister in Wesley, for I am not a thief!
          Who God Bless no thief can curse; every one in life who ever seek to destroy me have succeeded in destroying themselves!

          Hot debate. What do you think? Thumb up 1 Thumb down 26
          • Wesley Girl
            December 11, 2021

            You are exactly like Skerrit, thousand words but nothing to show us. You are a Scharlatan like Skerrit. Properties in America… Get out of here!

            Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 21 Thumb down 0
  5. December 8, 2021

    Well, that is good news indeed! Let us just hope that the tourists are entering clean and free from this devil of Corvid 19, we don’t need any more of its destruction in our homeland.

    Dominica, may God bless you with good health and safety.

    Hot debate. What do you think? Thumb up 2 Thumb down 23

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