Caribbean Airlines may fly to VI in 2020
In his 2020 Budget Address during the Second Sitting of the Second Session of the Fourth House of Assembly (HoA) today, November 19, 2019, Premier Fahie announced that the BVI Airports Authority (BVIAA) has advised it is in discussion with Caribbean Airlines Limited to add the Virgin Islands to their route network.
“There is optimism that this will happen in 2020.”
Caribbean Airlines Limited, which is the state-owned airline and flag carrier of Trinidad and Tobago, is the largest airline in the Caribbean.
The airline currently operates flights to the Caribbean, North America, Central America and South America from its base at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad.
According to Premier Fahie, transportation is a critical element of the VI’s value system as the territory continues to be the number-one Caribbean tourist destination, according to US News & World Report’s annual ranking of the world’s best vacation destinations.
“People are longing to visit the BVI. But of what value is this if the logistics are not there to deliver the payoff on their desire?”
Silver Airlines
The Territory’s leader then revealed that Silver Airways is set to add their 48 and 72 seater ATR aircraft to the VI by April 2020.
“This will significantly increase airlift to and from the Territory and make it more convenient to connect with other destinations. The marketing strategy of these two airlines involves promoting the calendar of events – in the BVI’s case, our events such as Emancipation Festival, Lobster Fest, Virgin Gorda Easter Fetsival and our regattas – to boost their bookings. This will help the BVI to increase our visitor arrivals, providing direct benefits to our hotel, accommodation, and hospitality sectors.”
Silver Airways is a US airline operating around 100 daily scheduled flights between gateways in Florida and The Bahamas.
According to the Silver Airways website, the airline’s fleet is comprised of modern, state of the art aircraft with reliable, fuel-efficient turbo-prop engines.
To further increase airlift capacity and improve connectivity with the Mainland USA, Premier Fahie said priority will be given to infrastructure development, built for resilience, to accommodate larger capacity aircraft at the airport. This will facilitate the arrival and departure of larger capacity aircrafts which are capable of bringing far greater numbers of visitors to our shores.
Supporting initiatives
It was at this juncture that Premier Fahie stated that to support the growth of visitor arrivals and fill hotel rooms, particularly with persons with spending power, special visitors’ visas would be introduced allowing certain categories of visitors one-week stays.
“They would be able to purchase these visas at the airport of their departure or here in the BVI, and this would provide another revenue stream for the Territory.”
Also, to support increasing arrivals, it was announced Government is working on a framework for providing emergency airlift for visitors out of the Territory in times when disasters loom.
Further, to improve efficiency and traveller experience, Premier Fahie said the BVI Airports Authority will be switching to the international exchange system by March 2020.
“This is a common-use platform for printing baggage tags and boarding passes. To ensure more comfort for travellers, the arrival area of the Terrence B Lettsome International Airport will be air conditioned,” he added.
Additionally, Hon Fahie said the Airport Police, which will be introduced shortly, will provide a better-structured environment and enhance security at the territory’s airports.
Upgrade and refurbishment of the airports at Anegada and Virgin Gorda were also said to be well on track. “This includes extending and paving the runway at Virgin Gorda as well as paving of the road way. Also, a variety of infrastructure work is taking place in Anegada including construction of a separate fire hall.”
Premier Fahie said these improvements will increase the VI’s share in the global and regional tourism market, increase business for tourism stakeholders, and support the position of the VI as an ideal destination for conferences and training.
“It will also build a solid foundation for our economy for the next 50 years.”
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26 Responses to “Caribbean Airlines may fly to VI in 2020”
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