Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - International carrier, Continental Airlines has expressed interest in beginning a new scheduled service to St. Lucia. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Philip J. Pierre, Director of Tourism, Hilary Modeste and St. Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) Regional Marketing Manager, Lorraine St. Jules met with top officials of Continental in Newark, NJ last week, to discuss the possibility of the new flight.
That's part of it; click on the link to read the entire article. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if CO started 73G service between EWR-UVF. It would fit right in with the rest of their Caribbean network. Has anyone at CO heard anything about this service? According to the article, CO will have concrete flight plans set up in six weeks time.
Jtamu97 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 655 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2043 times:
I am surprised that St. Lucia could accomodate jet service. When I was there in march 90% of the traffic was ATR's and Dash 8's. There was a G-IV and it looked huge on that field. Out of curiosity how long is the runway?
FoxBravo From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 2806 posts, RR: 5 Reply 3, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2021 times:
LatinAviation is right--this is not terribly surprising. I saw a CO charter heading to EWR when I was at UVF in the fall of 2002, and CO had ticket counters there already, so scheduled service does not seem unrealistic.
Jtamu97, there are two different airports in St. Lucia. You may be thinking of Vigie (SLU), in the north near Castries, which is very small and can accommodate only turboprops. Hewanorra (UVF), in the south, has a long runway that can accommodate widebodies (VS 747s and BA 777s are regular visitors).
BigOrange From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 2358 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1958 times:
FoxBravo
You are incorrect. SLU or Vigie as it is known can accommodate jets. When I was there in 2000 an Amerijet B727 landed every day at SLU.
I have a photo somewhere of it on finals, taken from the nearby Sandals resort. It may have something to do with Customs not being able to handle the number of passengers, not sure though. Are there any locals who can confirm this?
Jtamu97 From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 655 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1953 times:
Fox Bravo,
Thanks, that makes sense. We were on a cruise ship and I was watching the planes come and go most of the day. Wish I would have known there was another airport.
LimaFoxTango From Antigua and Barbuda, joined Jun 2004, 693 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 1941 times:
The approach into SLU is quite interesting. The runway is right at the edge of the waters, where cruise ships enters and exits the harbour. So at times, aircraft may have to either go around or climb over the ship to land.
The main reason why jets don't go into SLU is because of the small ramp size. Also, there is a hill infront of the airport, so after takeoff, aircrafts will have to make a sharp left turn out.
Cory6188 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 2686 posts, RR: 6 Reply 8, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1903 times:
Have any employees at CO heard anything about the possibility of this new service? Come on, Iahcsr, I'm sure you've heard something...
On a side note, CO also used to do (or still does?) charters from EWR-Providenciales (probably also for Sandals). Are they looking into scheduled service for that as well?
FoxBravo From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 2806 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1850 times:
BigOrange, when I said it "can accommodate only turboprops," I meant for regular passenger service--whether that is due to the runway length or the size of the ramp or terminal, I don't know. But obviously jet aircraft are physically capable of landing at Vigie, since Jtamu97's post I was replying to mentioned a G-IV there.
B757lvr From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 62 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1792 times:
Good news for St.Lucia! I am happy the market is so attractive to so many different carriers! Can't wait to see that new flight take to the air!!
I worked at both UVF (5 yrs with AA) and SLU (2 yrs for Eagle) till 12/2000. The Amerijet saga had been ongoing for a while.
In terms of commercial jet traffic at SLU, BWIA operated a daily MD80 flt to MIA from there, they eventually stopped that service and introduced the Bwee Express ( Dash 8's ) as a feeder to BGI to connect that same flight.
Amerijet had been fighting the authorities for a while because they were being pressed to move their service to UVF, I believe that that the civil aviation authorities prevailed in that matter so their B727 service to SLU stopped.
As a passenger on a few MD80 flights into SLU ( after seeing so many of them use up all the runway to take off and land...) my heart almost jumped out of my chest every time.. But whoa! What a rush!
Iahcsr From United States of America, joined Jun 1999, 3308 posts, RR: 46 Reply 11, posted (8 years 9 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1736 times:
"Come on, Iahcsr, I'm sure you've heard something..."
Odd as it might seem, I haven't a clue about this or any other new service CO might have in mind. New routes and the like are thought up/planned out by the nice folks down at 1600 Smith St. in downtown Houston. I however, am many miles north of CO's HQ. and only know what my coworkers around me talk/gossip about. New flight service is rarely a topic of conversation in Gordon's Galley.
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