More Air Service to the Caribbean, Mexico from U.S. in 2012

(Dive Travel Business News - December 29, 2011) -- Dive Travelers are going to have access to more air lift, more access, more options and more gateways from the U.S. this year signaling a comeback in travel from the past two years. The downside - higher fares and full planes. Here is a summary of some of the new air service.

Antigua -
• American began nonstop flights four times a week from Kennedy to Antigua in November.
• St. Vincent Grenadines Air offers daily scheduled service between Antigua and Montserrat.

Aruba -
• JetBlue offers a Saturday flight from Boston to Aruba in addition to its two weekly flights
• AirTran has weekend flights from Baltimore to Aruba through March 14, plus daily service to Aruba from Atlanta and weekend flights from Orlando.
• Delta has weekly nonstop service on Saturday from LaGuardia to Aruba, complementing its Saturday nonstop service from DKennedy and its flights via Atlanta to Aruba from Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Westchester County Airport.

Bahamas -
• JetBlue increased its frequency from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau to three daily flights.
• JetBlue also recently added a daily nonstop flight between New York’s Westchester County Airport and Nassau, complementing its daily departures from Kennedy.
• Vision Airlines offers nonstop service from Richmond, Va.; Louisville, Ky.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Baltimore; and Fort Lauderdale to Grand Bahama Island.
• Gulfstream International now offers a daily roundtrip from West Palm Beach to Freeport, daily service from Orlando to Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, and six daily flights between Fort Lauderdale and Freeport.

Barbados -
• American Airlines launched nonstop service from Dallas-Fort Worth to Barbados.
• Low-fare carrier RedJet, based in Barbados, launched service from Barbados to St. Lucia Dec. 16 and offers flights to Jamaica, Trinidad, Guyana and Antigua.
• American Eagle resumed nonstop weekend service between San Juan and Barbados.

Bermuda -
• AirTran now has seasonal service from Baltimore/Washington and Atlanta to Bermuda.

Curacao -
• InselAir, Curacao’s national carrier, now offers twice-weekly nonstop flights between Charlotte, N.C., and Curacao.

Dominican Republic -
• JetBlue has launched twice-weekly flights from New York Kennedy to La Romana, DR
• JetBlue has added twice-weekly nonstop flights from Kennedy to Samana, DR.
• In March, Delta will add additional flights from Kennedy to Santo Domingo and Santiago, DR
• American Eagle resumed nonstop weekend service between San Juan and La Romana in November. The carrier also offers a daily flight from Miami to La Romana.
• Frontier recently received U.S. approval to operate year-round service from Chicago to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, beginning June 1, supplemented with seasonal service from up to eight other gateways, including Denver, St. Louis and Baltimore/Washington.

Jamaica -
• JetBlue adds a daily flight from Kennedy to Montego Bay from Feb. 16 to April 30 and will run two weekly flights from Boston to MoBay from Jan. 4 to Feb. 27.
• JetBlue will launch twice-daily nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Kingston, Jamaica on April 30. Already there are plans for a third daily flight in 2013, a move that would equal the number of daily flights offered by Air Jamaica.
• American Airlines offers seasonal service to Montego Bay from Chicago with six weekly nonstops through April 3.
• Air Jamaica returned to Miami last month after a three-year hiatus. Its weekly Miami-to-Kingston flight goes to four a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) on Jan. 9 through February, after which the flights will be daily.
• Caribbean Airlines has resumed nonstop, twice-weekly flights from Orlando to Kingston.
• US Airways offers one flight a week from Boston to Montego Bay till April 14.
• United Continental has resumed weekend service from Newark to Montego Bay through Feb. 19. The schedule increases to four a week throughout March.

Mexico -
• Southwest Airlines and its subsidiary AirTran will operate flights to Mexico beginning May 24.
• AirTran’s new flights will include a daily roundtrip between John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., and Cabo San Lucas. 
• AirTran also will launch four weekly roundtrip flights from San Antonio to Cancun on June 3 and a daily roundtrip between San Antonio and Mexico City on May 24.
• Virgin America launched service last month from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta with five weekly nonstops. The carrier also serves Cancun and Los Cabos.

Puerto Rico -
• Southwest will launch flights from Houston Hobby Airport to San Juan in May.
• JetBlue will add two more flights from Fort Lauderdale to San Juan in May, bringing its daily total to six.
• JetBlue will offer flights from Tampa and Jacksonville, Fla., to San Juan and will launch nonstop daily service between Hartford, Conn., and San Juan on Jan. 5.  The carrier increased service on its flights from Boston to San Juan.
• AirTran will begin twice-daily service between Fort Lauderdale and San Juan on May 24, competing with JetBlue and Spirit on the route.
• Delta will add flights to San Juan from Kennedy, where it is building an expanded concourse as part of a $1.2 billion project to enhance Terminal 4.

San Juan Hub to St. Croix, St. Maarten, St. Lucia
• JetBlue began service out of San Juan to St. Thomas and St. Croix on Dec. 15.
• JetBlue added daily service from San Juan to St. Maarten in November
• American Eagle launched a second daily service between San Juan and St. Lucia’s George F. L. Charles Airport.

St. Thomas -
• JetBlue resumed seasonal service from Boston to St. Thomas on Dec. 15 with five weekly flights.

** This RSS Feed is brought to you by www.DiveTravelBusinessNews.com **