With airlift arrivals having grown for the past 18 months, there is a rising demand for St. Kitts as a leisure travel destination and North American airlines have taken note of the increased impetus for the island by providing additional flight options for travelers to reach the island in peak season and beyond.
“It is a testament to the strong relationships that the St. Kitts Ministry of Tourism together with the St. Kitts Tourism Authority have built with the airlines that has led to this additional service,” said Minister Grant. “I could not be more pleased to see increased airlift to our shores from our airline partners to help us continue our momentum of growth in the tourism sector.”
American Airlines, the carrier with the most flights to/from St. Kitts’ Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport (SKB), will be resuming its second daily non-stop flights from Wednesdays through Sundays from Miami to SKB early this year following the normal seasonal hiatus, with those flights having returned as of October 3, 2018 providing an additional 5 weeks of the twice-daily flying as compared to the same period in 2017.
Delta Air Lines, having added non-stop Saturday flights to SKB from JFK as of December 23, 2017, will return earlier from hiatus this year, with those non-stops resuming as of November 17, 2018 adding 5 operations in 2018 as compared to 2017. Delta will also provide mid-week non-stop flights from Atlanta to SKB on Wednesdays/Tuesdays for peak season starting on December 26, 2018.
In addition to the carrier’s non-stop Saturday flights to SKB from its New York/New Jersey hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, United Airlines has added Wednesday flights to island starting January 9, 2019, providing an additional 9 operations for 2019 as compared to 2018.
From Canada, Air Canada will resume its seasonal non-stop Saturday flights from Toronto to SKB earlier this year, with flights starting November 3, 2018 providing an additional 7 operations for 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017.
Most recently announced, Sun Country Airlines will begin serving SKB with non-stop Saturday flights from its Minneapolis hub for peak season from December 22, 2018 through April 20, 2019 providing a total of 18 new operations for 2018/2019 that did not exist during the same period in 2017/2018.
St. Kitts’ airlift strategy consists of continuing to nurture relationships with the airlines to systematically build out air bridges to/from identified target gateways to grow service in a sustainable manner that will support new and existing hotel developments as well as other local tourism stakeholders while making the island increasingly easy for air travelers to reach.
