2travel2know2 wrote:

baje427 wrote:

I'm not sold on the South American expansion but they probably have access to numbers we don't. Perhaps they'll schedule the South American flights to connect with their North American departure bank, however I think that would mean they'd need to increase their frequencies.

Other than returning to CCS, South America where??
CM hasn’t made it into PZO Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela yet where there’s a demand for (South) Florida and maybe IAH and NYC.
IMHO, The sheer size of Sao Paulo market, might be able to sustain 3-4 POS-GRU-POS per week, however, if BW is looking for the oil/gas-related traffic, GIG is the choice, but connections to/from GEO and IAH will be a must. Worth noticing, LIM and VVI also have oil-gas traffic demand.
Other than those destinations, I can’t visualise BW anywhere else in South America.
Be CCS or any other possible potential destination if the connecting time is more than 3 hours between flights, forget about BW being an attractive option.

caribbean484 wrote:

Just posting some data on the GEO-JFK market from the USDOT O&D data site for all airlines in 2022 ending Oct

MM Airline PAX Seats LF%
1 AA 5,787 8,600 67.3%
1 B6 7,364 12,000 61.4%
1 BW 4,885 8,400 58.2%
2 AA 5,483 8,944 61.3%
2 B6 6,780 10,800 62.8%
2 BW 4,481 8,540 52.5%
3 AA 6,878 10,664 64.5%
3 B6 8,789 12,400 70.9%
3 BW 5,818 9,900 58.8%
4 AA 8,486 10,320 82.2%
4 B6 9,778 11,600 84.3%
4 BW 7,519 9,600 78.3%
5 AA 8,338 10,664 78.2%
5 B6 9,886 12,400 79.7%
5 BW 6,893 9,920 69.5%
6 AA 7,737 9,804 78.9%
6 B6 10,284 12,000 85.7%
6 BW 7,312 9,600 76.2%
7 AA 9,007 10,664 84.5%
7 B6 11,056 12,000 92.1%
7 BW 9,236 9,920 93.1%
8 AA 8,898 10,320 86.2%
8 B6 11,316 12,400 91.3%
8 BW 9,399 9,920 94.7%
9 AA 7,540 10,148 74.3%
9 B6 10,401 11,800 88.1%
9 BW 7,224 9,440 76.5%
10 AA 7,882 10,320 76.4%
10 B6 10,607 12,400 85.5%
10 BW 7,329 9,920 73.9%

caribny wrote:

caribbean484 wrote:

maverick4002 wrote:

I like this freight idea. They lease the 767s now. Why not start a fleet (same rating for commerical flights, yes?) and operate cargo flights within the region and possible beyond

That was the original plan pre Covid, to have 2 dry lease 738 freighters to expand the cargo network with the focus of MIA being the cargo hub to the Caribbean and some intra-regional cargo.
BW has a large share of the cargo market in POS, KIN, and BGI and the natural progression of things was to bring everything in-house.

As for IAH, since they are looking to bring back the full schedule pre covid, they will need to go beyond the 3 MAXs as IAH will take up a lot of resources, with an average block and ground time of 14hrs (6hr each way + 2hrs ground), then you add in the possibility of them adding GEO for energy business you are talking about an additional 4 hrs of flight + ground time.

Talking about STT, it will be interesting to see if they also add AXA to the list of new destinations. I know that a delegation of BW met with BDA sometime last year also but a long shot route, along with BZE.
BW needs to bring back the 2w non-stop BGI-KIN flight and also look to restart GCM.

All very interesting.

1. If BW adequately services the northeast Caribbean from BGI/POS then indeed one can wonder about LI.
2. JY cannot be allowed to have a monopoly based on comments that I have seen from their passengers on their BGI route. Good if BW provides backup.
3. JFK POS will be interesting. Based on recent conversations they have lost most of their JFK GEO market as AA/B6 under cut them so I will be curious if BW is able to return to pre pandemic levels of service on the JFK Eastern Caribbean routes.
4, South America will be interesting to work with GOL, who stopped flights to BGI They only service PBM within CARICOM. Maybe they can leverage hubs in POS/GRU as this route will probably be workable with connecting service.
5. Not sure why AXA. SKB is way more important for intra regional travel given that its the financial center for the OECS.
6. If BW and WM collaborate this might allow a replication of LIs pre pandemic schedule, given that their strengths lie in different parts of the Eastern Caribbean. This will force JY to provide consistent service on its BGI hub.
7. The only carrier into POS which is back at pre pandemic levels is UA on the IAH POS, and this despite being a long route. This indicate opportunities for BW when one considers that they have access to GEO and PBM, the latter especially with AA pulling out.

aa1818 wrote:

A few questions for those in the know...

With the 3 new ATRs due soon at CAL, do we expect any 737 for ATR substitutions? PBM? CUR?

I've seen/ heard a slew of new destinations but not the route- FDF and PTP would be from POS or BGI?

If they get E2Jets, I presume they would be E195-2 (the most popular model) but what would be the advantage. I see most carrier have them configured single class about 130 pax. In 2-class with a 100-110 configuration, are they still economical?

I see the solar farm at POS is coming along nicely.

Any update on the proposed hotel at Piarco? I don't see anything resembling construction activity.

Cheers,
AA1818

Brickell305 wrote:

aa1818 wrote:

A few questions for those in the know...

With the 3 new ATRs due soon at CAL, do we expect any 737 for ATR substitutions? PBM? CUR?

I've seen/ heard a slew of new destinations but not the route- FDF and PTP would be from POS or BGI?

If they get E2Jets, I presume they would be E195-2 (the most popular model) but what would be the advantage. I see most carrier have them configured single class about 130 pax. In 2-class with a 100-110 configuration, are they still economical?

I see the solar farm at POS is coming along nicely.

Any update on the proposed hotel at Piarco? I don't see anything resembling construction activity.

Cheers,
AA1818

I also don’t see the benefit of E-jets unless they plan to start new routes with them e.g. PTY. Or unless they are planning on increasing frequency on routes like MCO/FLL and more KIN-POS nonstop.

TriniA340 wrote:

POS-CCS new tentative start date: 22-Apr.

RainyDaySolace wrote:

2travel2know2 wrote:

baje427 wrote:

I'm not sold on the South American expansion but they probably have access to numbers we don't. Perhaps they'll schedule the South American flights to connect with their North American departure bank, however I think that would mean they'd need to increase their frequencies.

Other than returning to CCS, South America where??
CM hasn’t made it into PZO Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela yet where there’s a demand for (South) Florida and maybe IAH and NYC.
IMHO, The sheer size of Sao Paulo market, might be able to sustain 3-4 POS-GRU-POS per week, however, if BW is looking for the oil/gas-related traffic, GIG is the choice, but connections to/from GEO and IAH will be a must. Worth noticing, LIM and VVI also have oil-gas traffic demand.
Other than those destinations, I can’t visualise BW anywhere else in South America.
Be CCS or any other possible potential destination if the connecting time is more than 3 hours between flights, forget about BW being an attractive option.

It would be awesome if BW somehow manages to kick off flights to Brazil, there is quite a lot of untapped potential on the business side of things. A push for either GRU or GIG would also open up an interesting new tourist market to Trinidadians who will find that Brazil is much more affordable as a tourism destination than either the EU or NA. Definitely looking forward to hopefully lower prices than CM or a shorter trip than making the GRU - BEL - PBM - POS I usually do.

2travel2know2 wrote:

RainyDaySolace wrote:

2travel2know2 wrote:

Other than returning to CCS, South America where??
CM hasn’t made it into PZO Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela yet where there’s a demand for (South) Florida and maybe IAH and NYC.
IMHO, The sheer size of Sao Paulo market, might be able to sustain 3-4 POS-GRU-POS per week, however, if BW is looking for the oil/gas-related traffic, GIG is the choice, but connections to/from GEO and IAH will be a must. Worth noticing, LIM and VVI also have oil-gas traffic demand.
Other than those destinations, I can’t visualise BW anywhere else in South America.
Be CCS or any other possible potential destination if the connecting time is more than 3 hours between flights, forget about BW being an attractive option.

It would be awesome if BW somehow manages to kick off flights to Brazil, there is quite a lot of untapped potential on the business side of things. A push for either GRU or GIG would also open up an interesting new tourist market to Trinidadians who will find that Brazil is much more affordable as a tourism destination than either the EU or NA. Definitely looking forward to hopefully lower prices than CM or a shorter trip than making the GRU - BEL - PBM - POS I usually do.

If BW’s ATR has been used on POS-CUR, then it has range for POS-BVB (Boa Vista) ?
In recent years, BVB has become popular (take meaning of that word with a grain of salt) with Venezuelans and has been knows to be used by Guyanese who want to travel to/from the rest of Brazil.

ktarabay98 wrote:

Caribbean Airlines (CAL) requested to the DOT for an expansion of access to the bilateral agreements between the US and Trinidad & Tobago. The airline plans to start operations in San Juan and St. Thomas this year, forecasting 5,339 passengers this year and 21,356 passengers for next year to and from SJU. For STT, they forecast 2,613 passenger this year and 21,356 passengers for the next year.

In 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline received DOT permits to carry out a milk route between Port of Spain and San Juan with a stopover on different islands in the Lesser Antilles using ATR-72 equipment.

Caribbean Airlines is the former BWIA who flew to San Juan for several decades connecting directly with islands such as Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua until the 1990s when BWIA ceased its operations locally at SJU because the destination ceased to be profitable for the airline due to strong competition from the American Airlines hub established in SJU.

https://downloads.regulations.gov/DOT-OST-2006-26586-0027/attachment_1.pdf

dominicl316 wrote:

Why St. Thomas and not St. Croix. It was STX that BWIA used to fly to in the early 90s on their milk run, not STT.

LimaFoxTango wrote:

dominicl316 wrote:

Why St. Thomas and not St. Croix. It was STX that BWIA used to fly to in the early 90s on their milk run, not STT.

While both STT and STX both have historical ties to the Eastern Caribbean, nowadays, STT might be seen as the better of the two islands, if I could be so blunt. STT is more developed and offers a better tourist product. STT also has flights to many parts of the US although it is not seen as a connections hub. Though somewhat inconvenient, it is not difficult to fly between STT and STX.

303dk wrote:

LimaFoxTango wrote:

dominicl316 wrote:

Why St. Thomas and not St. Croix. It was STX that BWIA used to fly to in the early 90s on their milk run, not STT.

While both STT and STX both have historical ties to the Eastern Caribbean, nowadays, STT might be seen as the better of the two islands, if I could be so blunt. STT is more developed and offers a better tourist product. STT also has flights to many parts of the US although it is not seen as a connections hub. Though somewhat inconvenient, it is not difficult to fly between STT and STX.

STT also has a wealthier population and serves St John, Tortola, and Jost. Depending on flight times, same day connections to St Croix by plane, sea plane, or ferry are possible.

caribny wrote:

303dk wrote:

LimaFoxTango wrote:

While both STT and STX both have historical ties to the Eastern Caribbean, nowadays, STT might be seen as the better of the two islands, if I could be so blunt. STT is more developed and offers a better tourist product. STT also has flights to many parts of the US although it is not seen as a connections hub. Though somewhat inconvenient, it is not difficult to fly between STT and STX.

STT also has a wealthier population and serves St John, Tortola, and Jost. Depending on flight times, same day connections to St Croix by plane, sea plane, or ferry are possible.

This depends on which will be intermediate stops between POS and the USVI. The old TT community in STX must be gutted now so the VFR travel that supported STX POS in the old days no longer exists. Also SJU no longer is a shopping and can no longer compete with MIA. So again the intermediate stops selected. I know that SKB has been campaigning to get BW as there is no longer convenient connections to the deep southern Caribbean. Also the current 3M difficulties might open up SJU opportunities.

The document refers to 4 ATR planes to be acquired by the summer, and not 3. If this is the case BW will definitely to going for significant expansion into the LI space. Note that POS used to be the largest source of intra regional travel and the 2nd largest destination. So there is a big gap to fill as travel returns to pre pandemic

caribbean484 wrote:

Just posting some data on the GEO-JFK market from the USDOT O&D data site for all airlines in 2022 ending Oct

MM Airline PAX Seats LF%
1 AA 5,787 8,600 67.3%
1 B6 7,364 12,000 61.4%
1 BW 4,885 8,400 58.2%
2 AA 5,483 8,944 61.3%
2 B6 6,780 10,800 62.8%
2 BW 4,481 8,540 52.5%
3 AA 6,878 10,664 64.5%
3 B6 8,789 12,400 70.9%
3 BW 5,818 9,900 58.8%
4 AA 8,486 10,320 82.2%
4 B6 9,778 11,600 84.3%
4 BW 7,519 9,600 78.3%
5 AA 8,338 10,664 78.2%
5 B6 9,886 12,400 79.7%
5 BW 6,893 9,920 69.5%
6 AA 7,737 9,804 78.9%
6 B6 10,284 12,000 85.7%
6 BW 7,312 9,600 76.2%
7 AA 9,007 10,664 84.5%
7 B6 11,056 12,000 92.1%
7 BW 9,236 9,920 93.1%
8 AA 8,898 10,320 86.2%
8 B6 11,316 12,400 91.3%
8 BW 9,399 9,920 94.7%
9 AA 7,540 10,148 74.3%
9 B6 10,401 11,800 88.1%
9 BW 7,224 9,440 76.5%
10 AA 7,882 10,320 76.4%
10 B6 10,607 12,400 85.5%
10 BW 7,329 9,920 73.9%

ryby92 wrote:

caribbean484 wrote:

Just posting some data on the GEO-JFK market from the USDOT O&D data site for all airlines in 2022 ending Oct

MM Airline PAX Seats LF%
1 AA 5,787 8,600 67.3%
1 B6 7,364 12,000 61.4%
1 BW 4,885 8,400 58.2%
2 AA 5,483 8,944 61.3%
2 B6 6,780 10,800 62.8%
2 BW 4,481 8,540 52.5%
3 AA 6,878 10,664 64.5%
3 B6 8,789 12,400 70.9%
3 BW 5,818 9,900 58.8%
4 AA 8,486 10,320 82.2%
4 B6 9,778 11,600 84.3%
4 BW 7,519 9,600 78.3%
5 AA 8,338 10,664 78.2%
5 B6 9,886 12,400 79.7%
5 BW 6,893 9,920 69.5%
6 AA 7,737 9,804 78.9%
6 B6 10,284 12,000 85.7%
6 BW 7,312 9,600 76.2%
7 AA 9,007 10,664 84.5%
7 B6 11,056 12,000 92.1%
7 BW 9,236 9,920 93.1%
8 AA 8,898 10,320 86.2%
8 B6 11,316 12,400 91.3%
8 BW 9,399 9,920 94.7%
9 AA 7,540 10,148 74.3%
9 B6 10,401 11,800 88.1%
9 BW 7,224 9,440 76.5%
10 AA 7,882 10,320 76.4%
10 B6 10,607 12,400 85.5%
10 BW 7,329 9,920 73.9%

Great report. Thanks. Can you provide the data for GEO - MIA?

caribny wrote:

303dk wrote:

LimaFoxTango wrote:

While both STT and STX both have historical ties to the Eastern Caribbean, nowadays, STT might be seen as the better of the two islands, if I could be so blunt. STT is more developed and offers a better tourist product. STT also has flights to many parts of the US although it is not seen as a connections hub. Though somewhat inconvenient, it is not difficult to fly between STT and STX.

STT also has a wealthier population and serves St John, Tortola, and Jost. Depending on flight times, same day connections to St Croix by plane, sea plane, or ferry are possible.

This depends on which will be intermediate stops between POS and the USVI. The old TT community in STX must be gutted now so the VFR travel that supported STX POS in the old days no longer exists. Also SJU no longer is a shopping and can no longer compete with MIA. So again the intermediate stops selected. I know that SKB has been campaigning to get BW as there is no longer convenient connections to the deep southern Caribbean. Also the current 3M difficulties might open up SJU opportunities.

The document refers to 4 ATR planes to be acquired by the summer, and not 3. If this is the case BW will definitely to going for significant expansion into the LI space. Note that POS used to be the largest source of intra regional travel and the 2nd largest destination. So there is a big gap to fill as travel returns to pre pandemic

caribbean484 wrote:

caribny wrote:

303dk wrote:

STT also has a wealthier population and serves St John, Tortola, and Jost. Depending on flight times, same day connections to St Croix by plane, sea plane, or ferry are possible.

This depends on which will be intermediate stops between POS and the USVI. The old TT community in STX must be gutted now so the VFR travel that supported STX POS in the old days no longer exists. Also SJU no longer is a shopping and can no longer compete with MIA. So again the intermediate stops selected. I know that SKB has been campaigning to get BW as there is no longer convenient connections to the deep southern Caribbean. Also the current 3M difficulties might open up SJU opportunities.

The document refers to 4 ATR planes to be acquired by the summer, and not 3. If this is the case BW will definitely to going for significant expansion into the LI space. Note that POS used to be the largest source of intra regional travel and the 2nd largest destination. So there is a big gap to fill as travel returns to pre pandemic

STT is also the busier of the two airports and as others have mentioned its more developed and wealthier. BW would have had to do their market analysis and determined that STT was the better fit to its network. It will be interesting to see the routing, but we will know soon enough what the plans for the regional expansion are.

CCS keeps being pushed back.

Interesting they are stating 4 ATRs in the document, however only 3 are currently confirmed, and they are already recruiting pilots for the ATRs.

303dk wrote:

caribbean484 wrote:

caribny wrote:

This depends on which will be intermediate stops between POS and the USVI. The old TT community in STX must be gutted now so the VFR travel that supported STX POS in the old days no longer exists. Also SJU no longer is a shopping and can no longer compete with MIA. So again the intermediate stops selected. I know that SKB has been campaigning to get BW as there is no longer convenient connections to the deep southern Caribbean. Also the current 3M difficulties might open up SJU opportunities.

The document refers to 4 ATR planes to be acquired by the summer, and not 3. If this is the case BW will definitely to going for significant expansion into the LI space. Note that POS used to be the largest source of intra regional travel and the 2nd largest destination. So there is a big gap to fill as travel returns to pre pandemic

STT is also the busier of the two airports and as others have mentioned its more developed and wealthier. BW would have had to do their market analysis and determined that STT was the better fit to its network. It will be interesting to see the routing, but we will know soon enough what the plans for the regional expansion are.

CCS keeps being pushed back.

Interesting they are stating 4 ATRs in the document, however only 3 are currently confirmed, and they are already recruiting pilots for the ATRs.

the USVI is still pursuing the visa waiver program for certain Caribbean visitors. That could make a big difference to the success of a route to STT.

caribbean484 wrote:

ryby92 wrote:

caribbean484 wrote:

Just posting some data on the GEO-JFK market from the USDOT O&D data site for all airlines in 2022 ending Oct

MM Airline PAX Seats LF%
1 AA 5,787 8,600 67.3%
1 B6 7,364 12,000 61.4%
1 BW 4,885 8,400 58.2%
2 AA 5,483 8,944 61.3%
2 B6 6,780 10,800 62.8%
2 BW 4,481 8,540 52.5%
3 AA 6,878 10,664 64.5%
3 B6 8,789 12,400 70.9%
3 BW 5,818 9,900 58.8%
4 AA 8,486 10,320 82.2%
4 B6 9,778 11,600 84.3%
4 BW 7,519 9,600 78.3%
5 AA 8,338 10,664 78.2%
5 B6 9,886 12,400 79.7%
5 BW 6,893 9,920 69.5%
6 AA 7,737 9,804 78.9%
6 B6 10,284 12,000 85.7%
6 BW 7,312 9,600 76.2%
7 AA 9,007 10,664 84.5%
7 B6 11,056 12,000 92.1%
7 BW 9,236 9,920 93.1%
8 AA 8,898 10,320 86.2%
8 B6 11,316 12,400 91.3%
8 BW 9,399 9,920 94.7%
9 AA 7,540 10,148 74.3%
9 B6 10,401 11,800 88.1%
9 BW 7,224 9,440 76.5%
10 AA 7,882 10,320 76.4%
10 B6 10,607 12,400 85.5%
10 BW 7,329 9,920 73.9%

Great report. Thanks. Can you provide the data for GEO - MIA?

GEO-MIA-GEO

Month'22 PAX Seats LF%
Jan 8,045 10,836 74.2%
Feb 7,773 9,460 82.2%
Mar 9,016 10,664 84.5%
Apr 9,186 10,320 89.0%
May 8,716 10,320 84.5%
Jun 9,126 10,320 88.4%
Jul 9,727 10,664 91.2%
Aug 9,145 10,492 87.2%
Sep 8,268 10,320 80.1%
Oct 8,628 10,664 80.9%

TriniA340 wrote:

TriniA340 wrote:

POS-CCS new tentative start date: 22-Apr.

BW to CCS Start date postponed; no longer happening in April. Will update if anything changes.

TriniA340 wrote:

TriniA340 wrote:

TriniA340 wrote:

POS-CCS new tentative start date: 22-Apr.

BW to CCS Start date postponed; no longer happening in April. Will update if anything changes.

Just announced - Start date May 13th.

Brickell305 wrote:

TriniA340 wrote:

TriniA340 wrote:

BW to CCS Start date postponed; no longer happening in April. Will update if anything changes.

Just announced - Start date May 13th.

Is this an ATR or 737?

phatfarmlines wrote:

Anyone know if the underway Cibao (STI / MDST) Airport terminal project will replace the existing terminal facilities?

https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/p ... architects

phatfarmlines wrote:

Anyone know if the underway Cibao (STI / MDST) Airport terminal project will replace the existing terminal facilities?

https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/p ... architects

phatfarmlines wrote:

Anyone know if the underway Cibao (STI / MDST) Airport terminal project will replace the existing terminal facilities?

https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/p ... architects

fowlr29 wrote:

Laser starting 2x a week Tuesday and Friday services CCS-CUR with the MD. Starting May5th

Albatros Airlines, who I haven't heard of before, started recently Wednesdays and Fridays, Las Piedras-Curacao and Valencia-Curacao with the E120.

maverick4002 wrote:

When is BW's new ATR supposed to join? Wasn't it the end of April?

9YCAL wrote:

maverick4002 wrote:

When is BW's new ATR supposed to join? Wasn't it the end of April?

First Aircraft due this week with the second following the week after.

baje427 wrote:

9YCAL wrote:

maverick4002 wrote:

When is BW's new ATR supposed to join? Wasn't it the end of April?

First Aircraft due this week with the second following the week after.

Where did they pick up these birds ?

trini81 wrote:

It has been reported that Norse Atlantic would start flying to Barbados and Jamaica from London Gatwick in Oct 2023
7x weekly LGW-BGI begins October 29
- 3x weekly LGW-KIN begins October 31
- 4x weekly LGW-MBJ begins October 29

trini81 wrote:

It has been reported that Norse Atlantic would start flying to Barbados and Jamaica from London Gatwick in Oct 2023
7x weekly LGW-BGI begins October 29
- 3x weekly LGW-KIN begins October 31
- 4x weekly LGW-MBJ begins October 29

BW985 wrote:

Do you have a source for Norse Atlantic Airways stating flights to Barbados and Jamaica?

Will be interesting to see if they’ll just be winter services or year round.

BW985 wrote:

Do you have a source for Norse Atlantic Airways stating flights to Barbados and Jamaica?

Will be interesting to see if they’ll just be winter services or year round.

trintocan wrote:

trini81 wrote:

It has been reported that Norse Atlantic would start flying to Barbados and Jamaica from London Gatwick in Oct 2023
7x weekly LGW-BGI begins October 29
- 3x weekly LGW-KIN begins October 31
- 4x weekly LGW-MBJ begins October 29

I've seen this posted elsewhere. It appears as if Norse Atlantic is trying to gain a foothold in the Caribbean. With BGI they are probably aiming to provide a cheaper LGW option. After all BA only go from LHR year-round with LGW coming in as additional Winter flights while VS are exclusively LHR. If the tourist market picks up further it may work but they need to do a lot of promotion to gain traction. BA's strength in BGI should not be underestimated though. Jamaica routes are a different matter altogether. MBJ is mainly tourism-driven but BA have struggled there in recent years. VS and also BY (TUI) have done well there. Norse would need to work with a package tour operator to make there work in my opinion. KIN is largely VFR but also rather loyal to BA. Would cheaper fares enable Norse to break in?

All the best to them on these new ventures.

Trintocan.

trintocan wrote:

trini81 wrote:

It has been reported that Norse Atlantic would start flying to Barbados and Jamaica from London Gatwick in Oct 2023
7x weekly LGW-BGI begins October 29
- 3x weekly LGW-KIN begins October 31
- 4x weekly LGW-MBJ begins October 29

I've seen this posted elsewhere. It appears as if Norse Atlantic is trying to gain a foothold in the Caribbean. With BGI they are probably aiming to provide a cheaper LGW option. After all BA only go from LHR year-round with LGW coming in as additional Winter flights while VS are exclusively LHR. If the tourist market picks up further it may work but they need to do a lot of promotion to gain traction. BA's strength in BGI should not be underestimated though. Jamaica routes are a different matter altogether. MBJ is mainly tourism-driven but BA have struggled there in recent years. VS and also BY (TUI) have done well there. Norse would need to work with a package tour operator to make there work in my opinion. KIN is largely VFR but also rather loyal to BA. Would cheaper fares enable Norse to break in?

All the best to them on these new ventures.

Trintocan.

LimaFoxTango wrote:

BWs new(est) ATR 9Y-TTG is currently enroute to POS now leaving KEF to YYR.

LightChop2Chop wrote:

I would have really expected Norse to do LGW - PUJ / CUN. those are no brainers and pretty easy to fill due to the shear drawing power of those destinations. MBJ should do fine. I don't think KIN will be around too long. that is a very hard VFR / Business route to crack and if there was enough demand to fill a second carrier we would have seen BA doing daily already. BGI is a premium market. will be interesting to see what happens there.

LimaFoxTango wrote:

BWs new(est) ATR 9Y-TTG is currently enroute to POS now leaving KEF to YYR.