FINALLY:

Fly Jamaica lands approval to begin direct flights between Guyana and Cuba

Fly Jamaica had applied several months ago to begin the service, and there were some concerns that the approval was being delayed. However, at his post-cabinet press briefing this morning, Minister of State Joe Harmon, confirmed that approval has been granted to the company.

http://newssourcegy.com/news/fly-jamaic ... -and-cuba/

Earlier in the summer
Aruba Airlines gets all clear to begin service to Guyana

The carrier is likely to begin with at least five flights per week between Guyana and Aruba. Some of its flights will fly on to Curacao, Cuba and Miami.

http://newssourcegy.com/news/aruba-airl ... to-guyana/

jm079 wrote:

FINALLY:

Fly Jamaica lands approval to begin direct flights between Guyana and Cuba

Fly Jamaica had applied several months ago to begin the service, and there were some concerns that the approval was being delayed. However, at his post-cabinet press briefing this morning, Minister of State Joe Harmon, confirmed that approval has been granted to the company.

http://newssourcegy.com/news/fly-jamaic ... -and-cuba/

Earlier in the summer
Aruba Airlines gets all clear to begin service to Guyana

The carrier is likely to begin with at least five flights per week between Guyana and Aruba. Some of its flights will fly on to Curacao, Cuba and Miami.

http://newssourcegy.com/news/aruba-airl ... to-guyana/

Guyana looks to attract more Canadian visitors ( Many Guyanese traveled last year and HarryWatch Boutique with Fly Jamaica Airways took a group of 200 during last May Celebrations)

According to Deputy Director of the GTA, Carla James-Chandra, visitor arrivals for 2017 is up by 5.66 percent. She said however, it was noticed that the Canadian market has not been growing as fast as others.

She noted that Canadian residents account for 9.7% of visitor arrivals from January to September this year- a total of 17, 489 passengers compared to 24,019 last year, adding that that market has not been growing as fast as expected.

https://newsroom.gy/2017/11/13/guyana-l ... -visitors/

guyanam wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

I don't think it's just the KIN/MBJ routes. I can see the POS-Florida routes outside of MIA being reduced/dropped. I was never sold on MCO being a profitable route and it must be even more difficult now with the foreign exchange shortage in Trinidad. People may be increasingly reluctant to spend the little USD that they do have on a Disney vacation and while there is some VFR out of Orlando, it's not a major VFR center. I could also see FLL dropping to 4x or 5x weekly outside of Carnival, Easter, Summer, Christmas. MIA will likely continue as is as the business demand is stronger to that airport.

Actually I was told by some people who should know that MCO POS is in fact doing reasonably well, and in fact better than the other FL routes in terms of its profitability. There is a decent sized Central FL T&T and Guyanese population, mainly home owning upper middle class re-migrants from the NY area. BW only has 300 seats to fill and it has no competition, except token from PY during the summer and Xmas into GEO.

FLL/MIA are very difficult for BW because of the intense competition from B6 and AA. Even into POS. MCO allows BW to carve its own niche. Even those disinclined to use them then have the hassles of driving to SoFL or connecting through MIA, making the nonstop route a no brainer. I doubt that MCO POS was designed solely on the Disneyland market as this is extremely highly seasonal. Outside of Easter and the summer how much is there really.

The beauty of the MCO POS route is that its too small to interest major US carriers so this is one route that BW will have to itself. Only the GEO routes allow BW this dominance. On its US MBJ/KIN/POS routes it has the B6 monster to fight. I agree that FLL is extremely vulnerable and in fact its only the fact that B6 ran daily that forced BW to do the same. As soon as B6 reduced service so too did BW.

If a FL route is to be dropped it will be FLL, especially if BW closes its Jamaica base.

BW has applied to DOT for exemption for 3 weekly JFK - SVD - POS and 4 weekly POS SVD- JFK with 737 service

POS - SVD - POS will see a major expansion of seats up from the ATR to the 737 with an 8 am from POS and a 12:30 pm to POS

jm079 wrote:

Guyana looks to attract more Canadian visitors ( Many Guyanese traveled last year and HarryWatch Boutique with Fly Jamaica Airways took a group of 200 during last May Celebrations)

According to Deputy Director of the GTA, Carla James-Chandra, visitor arrivals for 2017 is up by 5.66 percent. She said however, it was noticed that the Canadian market has not been growing as fast as others.

She noted that Canadian residents account for 9.7% of visitor arrivals from January to September this year- a total of 17, 489 passengers compared to 24,019 last year, adding that that market has not been growing as fast as expected.

https://newsroom.gy/2017/11/13/guyana-l ... -visitors/

Not sure how one can deduce that Guyana will get more visitors from Canada (apparently almost exclusively Canada based Guyanese) if the numbers seem to be dropping. This apparently because of concern that they are being targeted by criminals, and especially in light of travel warnings by the Canadian authorities.

jm079 wrote:

guyanam wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

I don't think it's just the KIN/MBJ routes. I can see the POS-Florida routes outside of MIA being reduced/dropped. I was never sold on MCO being a profitable route and it must be even more difficult now with the foreign exchange shortage in Trinidad. People may be increasingly reluctant to spend the little USD that they do have on a Disney vacation and while there is some VFR out of Orlando, it's not a major VFR center. I could also see FLL dropping to 4x or 5x weekly outside of Carnival, Easter, Summer, Christmas. MIA will likely continue as is as the business demand is stronger to that airport.

Actually I was told by some people who should know that MCO POS is in fact doing reasonably well, and in fact better than the other FL routes in terms of its profitability. There is a decent sized Central FL T&T and Guyanese population, mainly home owning upper middle class re-migrants from the NY area. BW only has 300 seats to fill and it has no competition, except token from PY during the summer and Xmas into GEO.

FLL/MIA are very difficult for BW because of the intense competition from B6 and AA. Even into POS. MCO allows BW to carve its own niche. Even those disinclined to use them then have the hassles of driving to SoFL or connecting through MIA, making the nonstop route a no brainer. I doubt that MCO POS was designed solely on the Disneyland market as this is extremely highly seasonal. Outside of Easter and the summer how much is there really.

The beauty of the MCO POS route is that its too small to interest major US carriers so this is one route that BW will have to itself. Only the GEO routes allow BW this dominance. On its US MBJ/KIN/POS routes it has the B6 monster to fight. I agree that FLL is extremely vulnerable and in fact its only the fact that B6 ran daily that forced BW to do the same. As soon as B6 reduced service so too did BW.

If a FL route is to be dropped it will be FLL, especially if BW closes its Jamaica base.

BW has applied to DOT for exemption for 3 weekly JFK - SVD - POS and 4 weekly POS SVD- JFK with 737 service

POS - SVD - POS will see a major expansion of seats up from the ATR to the 737 with an 8 am from POS and a 12:30 pm to POS

That may not be the best route to start if you're trying to stem losses on your North American routes.

Brickell305 wrote:

[BW has applied to DOT for exemption for 3 weekly JFK - SVD - POS and 4 weekly POS SVD- JFK with 737 service

POS - SVD - POS will see a major expansion of seats up from the ATR to the 737 with an 8 am from POS and a 12:30 pm to POS

That may not be the best route to start if you're trying to stem losses on your North American routes.[/quote]


Maybe they think that SVD will give them a monopoly and they can charge high fares. That frequency seems high outside of peak periods. I hope this isn't a stop on the POS JFK route as that will drive people to B6 or to other BW flights.

The expansion of Fly Jamaica and its sister company, Air Guyana, which will soon begin service from Guyana to Toronto via Havana, won’t solve the Guyana airlift shortage.
http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/ ... g-airlift/

Guyana’s poor aviation safety standards affecting airlift


Where Canadian tourists flock to in the Caribbean
The Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica topped the leader board as Canadians' preferred Caribbean vacation destinations for 2016. Canada, normally a robust market for the Caribbean tourism region, recorded a decrease in visits last year for the first time since 1994, which was only the second decline since 1982. The 3.3 million arrivals from Canada in 2016 represented a 3.4-per-cent drop over 2015. Guyana saw 17, 628 Visitors last year
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report- ... e34068845/


Canadians accounted for 11.3
per cent of all 2016 arrivals in
the Caribbean region.
Americans provided about half.

Bahamas: 100,614
Turks & Caicos Islands: 44,974
Atlantic Ocean
Cuba: 527,757
Dominican Rep.: 768,486
Anguilla: 3,001
Antigua &
Barbuda: 21,196
Belize: 21,866
Cayman Islands: 23,274
Haiti: 11,074
Montserrat:307
P. Rico: 14,388
Jamaica: 372,137
St. Kitts &
Nevis: 2,142
Dominica: 2,722
HONDURAS
Aruba: 42,059
Saint Lucia: 37,772
Caribbean Sea
COSTA
RICA
Barb.: 56,191
St. Vincent: 5,782
Curacao:
17,858
Grenada: 10,723
Trinidad &
Tobago: 49,981
Pacific Ocean
PANAMA
VENEZUELA
Guyana: 17,628
Canadian tourist
arrivals to the
Caribbean, 2016
Over all, tourists, including cruise
ship passengers, spent $35.5-billion
(U.S.) in the Caribbean last year,
a 3.5-per-cent increase from 2015

jm079 wrote:

The expansion of Fly Jamaica and its sister company, Air Guyana, which will soon begin service from Guyana to Toronto via Havana, won’t solve the Guyana airlift shortage.http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/ ... g-airlift/

At first I was puzzled by this route, but after looking further you can see he is trying to sell a YYZ-HAV-GEO-YYZ/GEO-HAV-YYZ multi-destination package.

jm079 wrote:

FINALLY:Fly Jamaica lands approval to begin direct flights between Guyana and CubaFly Jamaica had applied several months ago to begin the service, and there were some concerns that the approval was being delayed. However, at his post-cabinet press briefing this morning, Minister of State Joe Harmon, confirmed that approval has been granted to the company.

Am curious if the B767 will be ready for the upcoming Christmas period. OJ has now turned their attention to the JFK-GEO market. YYZ-GEO now has 1 weekly nonstop which operates on Friday. But credit must be given to their maintenance crew. That B757 is one beast.

jm079 wrote:

Bahamas: 100,614Turks & Caicos Islands: 44,974Atlantic OceanCuba: 527,757Dominican Rep.: 768,486Anguilla: 3,001Antigua &Barbuda: 21,196Belize: 21,866Cayman Islands: 23,274Haiti: 11,074Montserrat:307P. Rico: 14,388Jamaica: 372,137St. Kitts &Nevis: 2,142Dominica: 2,722HONDURASAruba: 42,059Saint Lucia: 37,772Caribbean SeaCOSTARICABarb.: 56,191St. Vincent: 5,782Curacao:17,858Grenada: 10,723Trinidad &Tobago: 49,981Pacific OceanPANAMAVENEZUELAGuyana: 17,628

Most of these smaller islands are currently in their peak.

********************************************

DOT Stats May 2017.

149 144 09Q Swift Air, LLC CVG MBJ
149 145 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ CVG
149 147 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ SAV
149 139 09Q Swift Air, LLC DFW MBJ
149 0 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ CLE
149 132 09Q Swift Air, LLC CLE MBJ
149 144 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ DFW
149 141 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL KIN
149 147 09Q Swift Air, LLC ATL MBJ
149 146 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ ATL
150 119 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN MIA
173 0 GL Miami Air International KIN MIA
173 67 GL Miami Air International JFK KIN
173 122 GL Miami Air International KIN JFK
173 0 GL Miami Air International MIA KIN
175 127 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MCO
179 80 09Q Swift Air, LLC AEX KIN
179 15 09Q Swift Air, LLC KIN AEX
189 138 WG Sunwing Airlines Inc. CVG MBJ
192 150 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
192 156 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
192 156 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. DTW KIN
192 143 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ DTW
245 0 X9 Omni Air International LLC DFW KIN
360 210 NK Spirit Air Lines KIN FLL
480 446 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. DTW MBJ
480 463 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ DTW
528 490 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. BOS MBJ
528 502 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ BOS
540 436 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL KIN
600 546 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ BOS
600 522 B6 JetBlue Airways BOS MBJ
600 309 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK KIN
640 526 AA American Airlines Inc. LAX MBJ
640 492 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ LAX
664 626 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ ORD
664 618 UA United Air Lines Inc. ORD MBJ
672 494 XP XTRA Airways MBJ STL
672 520 XP XTRA Airways STL MBJ
716 562 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAD MBJ
716 612 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAD
800 712 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN JFK
900 739 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL MBJ
900 716 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ FLL
996 825 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAH MBJ
996 923 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAH
1000 853 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK MBJ
1000 940 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ JFK
1074 966 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAH MBJ
1074 789 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAH
1120 848 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ ORD
1120 975 AA American Airlines Inc. ORD MBJ
1144 1063 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MDW
1144 1014 WN Southwest Airlines Co. BWI MBJ
1144 1064 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ BWI
1144 964 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MDW MBJ
1432 1285 UA United Air Lines Inc. EWR MBJ
1432 1320 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ EWR
2030 984 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL KIN
2030 1658 NK Spirit Air Lines KIN FLL
2128 1730 EV ExpressJet Airlines Inc. ATL MBJ
2128 1761 EV ExpressJet Airlines Inc. MBJ ATL
2275 2042 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MDW
2450 2074 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MDW MBJ
2772 2400 OJ Fly Jamaica Airways Limited KIN JFK
2970 1465 OJ Fly Jamaica Airways Limited JFK KIN
3450 2847 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ PHL
3450 2925 AA American Airlines Inc. PHL MBJ
4350 3625 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL MBJ
4350 3701 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ FLL
4433 3820 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ HOU
4433 3791 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MCO
4433 4032 WN Southwest Airlines Co. HOU MBJ
4433 4085 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MCO MBJ
4482 4114 UA United Air Lines Inc. EWR MBJ
4482 4344 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ EWR
4620 2266 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited JFK KIN
4620 3184 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited KIN JFK
4650 4107 AA American Airlines Inc. CLT MBJ
4650 3992 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ MCO
4650 3808 B6 JetBlue Airways MCO MBJ
4650 4288 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ CLT
4774 3088 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited MBJ JFK
4774 3330 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited MBJ FLL
4774 2375 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited JFK MBJ
4774 2484 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited FLL KIN
4774 3229 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited FLL MBJ
4774 3422 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited KIN FLL
4800 3822 AA American Airlines Inc. DFW MBJ
4800 4197 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ DFW
4958 4575 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ JFK
4960 4309 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. JFK MBJ
4960 4726 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. KIN ATL
5118 3834 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL KIN
5280 4821 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
5400 4261 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL MBJ
5425 4477 WN Southwest Airlines Co. BWI MBJ
5425 5024 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ BWI
5440 5087 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
5550 4476 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK MBJ
5550 4974 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ JFK
5580 5020 NK Spirit Air Lines MBJ FLL
7293 6311 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ PHL
7293 6035 AA American Airlines Inc. PHL MBJ
9087 8532 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
9089 8270 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
9150 8369 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN FLL
9300 7439 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL KIN
10050 9359 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN JFK
10200 7420 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK KIN
11594 10677 AA American Airlines Inc. CLT MBJ
11594 10600 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ CLT
14080 11621 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ MIA
14080 10786 AA American Airlines Inc. MIA MBJ
14880 12570 AA American Airlines Inc. KIN MIA
14880 10968 AA American Airlines Inc. MIA KIN
---------------------------------------------------------

MBJShots.
Soon to be extinct livery.





Drowned in a sea of blue.



The multi-colour experience.


Now worried about EW's expansion in MBJ.

hummingbird wrote:

Yes,the 3 weekly will only operate Mid Dec-Early Jan.

Somehow I thought UA would be the one serving LAX-MBJ, but alas it's AA.

hummingbird wrote:

WN's growth in the market has hit BW. Clearly this ad is targeting NK and B^.

WN's two free bags will be a hit amongst the local market. When you combine the connection potentials from their FLL hub and the large VFR travel market, don't be surprised to see a 3rd daily in S18.

WN is very much aware that Jamaicans travel heavy & will enjoy the 2 50 lb allowance. They will be attractive to Jamaicans. Not surprised that they beefed up FLL-MBJ to 2x daily. I also expect them on FLL-KIN at some point sooner or later.

beeweel15 wrote:

or the A330-200/NEO for wide body operations and re-enter the European market.

If BW couldn't get London to work, which other European city will work for them?

jm079 wrote:

Fly Jamaica might be looking for a new image and motiff

Not a bad looking image/logo. Look far more professional than the current "livery". I am not a fan of the black font though.

hummingbird wrote:

jm079 wrote:

The expansion of Fly Jamaica and its sister company, Air Guyana, which will soon begin service from Guyana to Toronto via Havana, won’t solve the Guyana airlift shortage.http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/ ... g-airlift/

At first I was puzzled by this route, but after looking further you can see he is trying to sell a YYZ-HAV-GEO-YYZ/GEO-HAV-YYZ multi-destination package.

A big advantage of OJs YYZ GEO route was that it was nonstop. Now adding HAV makes it longer than BWs flight via POS.

We can debate about how many Canadians OJ will get to travel to Cuba given the fierce competition from a whole plethora of Canadian carriers.. And they will need people to fill the YYZ HAV sector given that Cubans shoppers will fill the HAV GEO flight. At least for as long as Cubans remain interested in shopping in Guyana.

airjamaica wrote:

hummingbird wrote:

WN's growth in the market has hit BW. Clearly this ad is targeting NK and B^.

WN's two free bags will be a hit amongst the local market. When you combine the connection potentials from their FLL hub and the large VFR travel market, don't be surprised to see a 3rd daily in S18.

WN is very much aware that Jamaicans travel heavy & will enjoy the 2 50 lb allowance. They will be attractive to Jamaicans. Not surprised that they beefed up FLL-MBJ to 2x daily. I also expect them on FLL-KIN at some point sooner or later.

I doubt WN will make a strong push into KIN. They tend to struggle with VFR markets. Their best markets are tourism routes where the point of sale is almost entirely US. That's not the case in KIN.

airjamaica wrote:

WN is very much aware that Jamaicans travel heavy & will enjoy the 2 50 lb allowance. They will be attractive to Jamaicans. Not surprised that they beefed up FLL-MBJ to 2x daily. I also expect them on FLL-KIN at some point sooner or later.

I have heard stories of ICIs commuting to MBJ to take WN to FLL.

Brickell305 wrote:

I doubt WN will make a strong push into KIN. They tend to struggle with VFR markets. Their best markets are tourism routes where the point of sale is almost entirely US. That's not the case in KIN.

When WN first announced plans to open their FLL International hub, they mentioned major cities will be their target. I believe KIN falls in that category. FLL-KIN has three existing carriers with less than generous baggage policy. I can only speak for the Jamaican market, but for the majority having two bags for free will be a hit with families and the ICI market. But I don't think the Govt is ready to give up the route as BW will be done. That national carrier title becomes a clout.

guyanam wrote:

A big advantage of OJs YYZ GEO route was that it was nonstop.

They only have one plane in service and with D2's exit from JFK-GEO, they have increased frequencies. JFK-GEO is now 5 weekly, 1 nonstop and 4 via KIN.

YYZ -GEO is now 2. One nonstop and the other via KIN.

guyanam wrote:

We can debate about how many Canadians OJ will get to travel to Cuba given the fierce competition from a whole plethora of Canadian carriers.. And they will need people to fill the YYZ HAV sector given that Cubans shoppers will fill the HAV GEO flight. At least for as long as Cubans remain interested in shopping in Guyana.

They are pursuing the multi destination market. At peak you may see 2 weekly but this market involves packages that lasts 1-2 weeks.This fits well into their plans. Outbound from YYZ will have GEO bound pax so each and every leg will produce revenue.

airjamaica wrote:

Somehow I thought UA would be the one serving LAX-MBJ, but alas it's AA.

They were looking at SFO-MBJ services. A former JM route.

hummingbird wrote:

airjamaica wrote:

They are pursuing the multi destination market. At peak you may see 2 weekly but this market involves packages that lasts 1-2 weeks.This fits well into their plans. Outbound from YYZ will have GEO bound pax so each and every leg will produce revenue.

.

There will be passengers doing HAV GEO HAV as the largest demand for this market are Cuban shoppers. So what happens to the YYZ HAV YYZ seats that will be empty as a result of this travel between Cuba and Guyana? OJ will need to develop a YYZ HAV YYZ market to utilize seats not available to through passengers because of travel by Cubans.

I also think that its debatable that a multi destination market exists where large numbers of people will combine a leisure trip to Cuba with a VFR visit to Guyana. Just because someone wishes this to be doesn't mean that it is. Do large numbers of YYZ based Jamaicans visit Cuba while on trips home?

guyanam wrote:

There will be passengers doing HAV GEO HAV as the largest demand for this market are Cuban shoppers. So what happens to the YYZ HAV YYZ seats that will be empty as a result of this travel between Cuba and Guyana? OJ will need to develop a YYZ HAV YYZ market to utilize seats not available to through passengers because of travel by Cubans.

I also think that its debatable that a multi destination market exists where large numbers of people will combine a leisure trip to Cuba with a VFR visit to Guyana. Just because someone wishes this to be doesn't mean that it is. Do large numbers of YYZ based Jamaicans visit Cuba while on trips home?

Not according to this article below.
We are looking at a 1 weekly service. So a B757 outbound from YYZ will have passengers on multi-destination trips with HAV as their first stop. The rest of plane will have passengers heading to GEO.
That is 198 seats wont be hard to get a 80% load factor
They will be represented in Cuba by Havatur. That takes care of market access

“We have a large diaspora in Canada and, as far as we understand, Guyanese-Canadians will come to Cuba and spend one week, then go to Guyana to spend another week, come back to Cuba and spend another week, and then go back to Canada.” Additionally, some 1000 Cubans are said to be making their way to Guyana on a weekly basis for the purpose of shopping, spending some half a million US dollars during their stay. Reece had told the Guyana Chronicle that to her knowledge, permission for the Cuban operation is to be decided at Cabinet level. The company has been waiting for a response several months now.

http://guyanachronicle.com/2017/09/04/c ... ht-operate

When asked about the airline’s contact with any travel agency, Mr. Smith pointed out that they are represented in Cuba by Havanatur. “People can go to any Havanatur office and purchase our tickets. We are working on packages. Cubans can now travel to Guyana and have a comfortable hotel room at affordable prices. No sleeping in airports. People coming from Guyana will enjoy the same here, in Cuba. They will be coming on our aircrafts and we hope to bring tourism from Guyana. We hope to connect those tourists who travel to Guyana and want a second destination. We’ll bring them to Cuba. We are looking forward to doing the same in the Bahamas, connecting our tourism market in the Bahamas to Cuba, Jamaica to Cuba. This is the center of the Caribbean,” he concluded.

Read more at: http://www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/en/ ... n%E2%80%9D

The person who spoke of Guyanese in Canada spending one week in Cuba and then flying to Guyana for another is the Guyana ambassador to Cuba. I suspect he isn't an expert on the travel patterns of overseas based Guyanese.

So Surinam Airways is looking to work with Fly Jamaica/Air Guyana on the GEO-JFK route.

The SLM has leased a replacement device. "If everything goes according to plan, a Boeing 737-700 must arrive at our Johan Adolph Pengel Airport in February 2018 to replace the already phased-out PZ-TCO," according to Surinamese society.

The state-owned company also leases a Boeing 737-800 from the Czech lease company Travel Service A.S from 23 November 2017 to 28 February 2018. This aircraft, along with the still existing PZ-TCQ (also a Boeing 737), will be used on the regional routes. Whether the device will also be stickered with the SLM colors is not clear...
New York
SLM wants to fly to New York, but does not have the right flight rights for this. Today it was announced that the company is looking for a partnership with Air Guyana, because they do possess these flight rights.

https://www.dagonline.nl/nieuws/slm-lea ... -van-oude/

*******************************************************
BW will add extra segments to KIN over the Christmas period.



****************************************************

MBJShots.

Pre-Flight Checks.



Missing an AC mainline narrowbody.


" Big Brothers"



Hoping to see a return in 2018.



Roaring CFM engines.

PY working with OJ makes sense. PY has the planes which OJ doesn't. OJ has the route rights under the Air Guyana brand.

hummingbird wrote:

So Surinam Airways is looking to work with Fly Jamaica/Air Guyana on the GEO-JFK route.

The SLM has leased a replacement device. "If everything goes according to plan, a Boeing 737-700 must arrive at our Johan Adolph Pengel Airport in February 2018 to replace the already phased-out PZ-TCO," according to Surinamese society.

The state-owned company also leases a Boeing 737-800 from the Czech lease company Travel Service A.S from 23 November 2017 to 28 February 2018. This aircraft, along with the still existing PZ-TCQ (also a Boeing 737), will be used on the regional routes. Whether the device will also be stickered with the SLM colors is not clear...
New York
SLM wants to fly to New York, but does not have the right flight rights for this. Today it was announced that the company is looking for a partnership with Air Guyana, because they do possess these flight rights.

https://www.dagonline.nl/nieuws/slm-lea ... -van-oude/

*******************************************************
BW will add extra segments to KIN over the Christmas period.



****************************************************

MBJShots.

Pre-Flight Checks.



Missing an AC mainline narrowbody.


" Big Brothers"



Hoping to see a return in 2018.



Roaring CFM engines.

PY vision:

SLM would even consider the option to bid for Air Guyana for acquisition. ( This makes for an interesting development - Government own airline purchasing Air Guyana - With PY current route network being link to the proposed Air Guyana route. A good move for multi destination tourism

Another possibility is to enter into a joint venture with the airline from the neighboring country.

There are no scheduled flights between NYC and PBM, probably due to the lousy bilateral agreements between US and Surinam. In fact, Surinam aviation will always be poor until the government starts to take aviation seriously.

Air Guyana is just Ronald Reece's means of circumventing the FAA cat 2 rating of Guyana's Civil Aviation Authority which, amongst other things, prevents a Guyanese carrier from launching flights to the US. However, Surinam Airways can offer to wet-lease an aircraft to operate GEO-JFK on behalf of Air Guyana for the mutual benefit of both parties.

guyanam wrote:

PY working with OJ makes sense. PY has the planes which OJ doesn't. OJ has the route rights under the Air Guyana brand.

jm079 wrote:

PY vision:SLM would even consider the option to bid for Air Guyana for acquisition. ( This makes for an interesting development - Government own airline purchasing Air Guyana - With PY current route network being link to the proposed Air Guyana route. A good move for multi destination tourismAnother possibility is to enter into a joint venture with the airline from the neighboring country.

This are my issues with this venture:

1.PY is Government owned and does not have the best track record in running a successful operation. Poorly managed, bloated staff, filled with corruption and nepotism. Have we not learnt from JM and BW.

2.Two different cultures, two different cost structures. The B738 is wet leased.($$$$$). Also you will need two crew members to operate roundtrip segments. This will be another added cost to their already high overhead. We have seen how the Reece's operate OJ.( Keep costs very very low).

3.If Air Guyana expands their cargo operation transporting fresh fruit to JFK, the B738 is not the best choice.

gunnerman wrote:

There are no scheduled flights between NYC and PBM, probably due to the lousy bilateral agreements between US and Surinam.

The market is non existent.

A side note. Since D2 pulled out of the GEO-JFK market, I have yet to see interests from US carriers to serve the market. I was right, too many challenges including the war on drugs.

gunnerman wrote:

Air Guyana is just Ronald Reece's means of circumventing the FAA cat 2 rating of Guyana's Civil Aviation Authority which, amongst other things, prevents a Guyanese carrier from launching flights to the US.

The man is a genius.

hummingbird wrote:

gunnerman wrote:

There are no scheduled flights between NYC and PBM, probably due to the lousy bilateral agreements between US and Surinam.

The market is non existent.

But PY's assessment is that there is demand to justify operating flights. Non-stops may not be a good idea, but a routing via GEO could work. This would complement the MIA flights, of which three of the five weeklies are via GEO.

hummingbird wrote:

gunnerman wrote:

Air Guyana is just Ronald Reece's means of circumventing the FAA cat 2 rating of Guyana's Civil Aviation Authority which, amongst other things, prevents a Guyanese carrier from launching flights to the US.

The man is a genius.

The word "genius" never occurred to me, "struggling" is better I think.

[quote="jm079 A good move for multi destination tourism

Another possibility is to enter into a joint venture with the airline from the neighboring country.[/quote]

I will be curious to find out hard data about how much multi destination tourism exists. Europeans tend to come to the Caribbean for 2 weeks so that is plausible as they have ample vacation. Multi destination tourism is out of the question for Americans who only get 2-3 weeks, and aren't about to blow that on one trip. Canadians seem very price conscious, which doesn't lend itself to this.

So why all the talk about multi destination tourism when only a small % of the market is interested in it?

gunnerman wrote:

The word "genius" never occurred to me, "struggling" is better I think.

Agreed. OJ is once again a one plane operation and there doesn't seem to be immediate prospects that this will change.

Is the 767 out of commission again?

gunnerman wrote:

Is the 767 out of commission again?

Has been out of commission since early summer. It needs an engine replacement.

gunnerman wrote:

But PY's assessment is that there is demand to justify operating flights. Non-stops may not be a good idea, but a routing via GEO could work. This would complement the MIA flights, of which three of the five weeklies are via GEO.

They are interested in the GEO market as they wanted to open a base and seek flag carrier roles. Laughable, may have worked with the previous Govt, but not the one in power, so they have to revert to "working with Air Guyana". See article below.

In the nearer future, Surinam wants to expand its base in Georgetown, the capital of neighboring Guyana. Guyana does not have a flag carrier, and Surinam is poised to step in to take that role with flights from Havana and New York in addition to already-established service to Miami and Orlando. The number of flights between Georgetown and Suriname's capital, Paramaribo, may also be increased. Right now, charter airlines are the only real competitors on any of these routes.

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destin ... bbean.html

-----------------------------------------

An article on Jamaica's growth in the Canadian market. Closer relationship with Sunwings is reaping benefits.



----------------------------

Minister Bartlett suggested that other means of enhancing the competitiveness of the region’s tourism sector would be “for us to enter into discussions with several airlines and tour companies to discuss the way forward in terms of possibly introducing new locations to their Caribbean itineraries.”
The region must also aggressively target promising markets in South America, Europe, Asia “and even promote more seriously the idea of intra-regional tourism,” said Minister Bartlett. At the same time, the region must also tap into a vibrant Caribbean Diaspora in source markets such as Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom to encourage expatriates to return home more often, he added.
Minister Bartlett also underscored the need to look into the feasibility of multi-destination arrangements that will increase intra-regional tourist flows and promote mutual benefits for more destinations in the region. “As we explore opportunities in multi-destination tourism, we must also seek regional cooperation in related areas such as aviation and airlift strategies to move seamlessly within the region, visa facilitation and access to each other’s destinations, as well as pre-clearance arrangements,” he posited.

https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/gr ... ib-tourism
--------------------------
OAG Changes.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1379689
OJ JFK-KIN APR 0.6>0.8 MAY 0.6>0.7 JUN 0.5>0.7 JUL 0.6>0.7


MBJShots..

German Bound ft Condor's A330 on seasonal lease from TS.



Lining up on RWY25.


B787 WingFlex in action.


MLG about to leve Terra Firma.


NightShot of Euro bound heavies.


Dbl DE action.

Spirit Airlines has announced daily BWI_MBJ services starting Mar2018.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/spring-s ... 00908.html

Perfect market for NK to penetrare. BWI has always been an interesting market. With low fares everybody will be heading to Jamaica to get their groove back, lol.

**************************************************************************

Multi Destination will be marketed for 2018 Winter Season.

Jamaica, along with Cuba, Dominica Republic, and Mexico are set to roll out a multi-destination offering to the international market for the 2018 winter tourist season.
According to Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, two-thirds of this new marketing approach has already been agreed on, with Mexico due to put pen to paper on the 17th of January 2018.
"By the end of January, all four of the biggest players in tourism in the region will be joining together with a multi-destination package," Bartlett told The Gleaner, following his presentation on Monday, day one of the United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth, which is being held under the theme, Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.
"What that means is that we will have the capacity to bring large aircrafts loaded with people from far distances, who would normally not be able to land in Jamaica because our population and demand are not strong enough to fill those large planes to get here."
Bartlett explained that the arrangement will see aircrafts making several stops at different destinations and is set to bring great benefits to Jamaica, which is set to surpass the four million visitor arrivals for the first time in its history.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news ... lan-winter

**************************************

Prime Minister Andrew Holness says a new air services agreement is to be negotiated between Jamaica and the Dominican Republic to complement a soon-to-be-signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on multi-destination tourism.
Holness made the declaration during his press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon after meeting with President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina Sanchez to discuss bilateral, regional and multilateral issues.
Holness said the two governments had also agreed to establish a joint-bilateral commission to enable broader co-operation in sports, culture, education and other areas of mutual interests.
The prime minister said they also discussed the need for the Caribbean to have a single voice in forums such as the 'one planet summit' on climate change to be held in Paris on December 12.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news ... -agreement

hummingbird wrote:

Spirit Airlines has announced daily BWI_MBJ services starting Mar2018.

Didn't see that one coming, but they should do well on it I suppose. I still think WN will have the edge over them with their 2 free bags. However NK has their loyal fan base as well & the nice mix of leisure/VFR should bode well for them on that sector. I wonder if we will ever see a TPA-MBJ service again?

airjamaica wrote:

hummingbird wrote:

Spirit Airlines has announced daily BWI_MBJ services starting Mar2018.

Didn't see that one coming, but they should do well on it I suppose. I still think WN will have the edge over them with their 2 free bags. However NK has their loyal fan base as well & the nice mix of leisure/VFR should bode well for them on that sector. I wonder if we will ever see a TPA-MBJ service again?

I think the only problem with TPA-MBJ is that the demand may not be high enough to support a nonstop. Anyhow, I would love to see Spirit fly MBJ-TPA nonstop.

FLYKTPA wrote:

I think the only problem with TPA-MBJ is that the demand may not be high enough to support a nonstop. Anyhow, I would love to see Spirit fly MBJ-TPA nonstop.

Back in the day NW operated TPA-MBJ, but it was a "through" flight that originated in MSP. Not sure if it originated in DTW at times too. Also JM operated TPA-MBJ back in the 80s, but it was a tag on to the MCO flights. So southbound it did MCO-TPA-MBJ-KIN. Only time will tell if TPA will be connected to MBJ again in the future.

hummingbird wrote:

jm079 wrote:

The expansion of Fly Jamaica and its sister company, Air Guyana, which will soon begin service from Guyana to Toronto via Havana, won’t solve the Guyana airlift shortage.http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/ ... g-airlift/

At first I was puzzled by this route, but after looking further you can see he is trying to sell a YYZ-HAV-GEO-YYZ/GEO-HAV-YYZ multi-destination package.

jm079 wrote:

FINALLY:Fly Jamaica lands approval to begin direct flights between Guyana and CubaFly Jamaica had applied several months ago to begin the service, and there were some concerns that the approval was being delayed. However, at his post-cabinet press briefing this morning, Minister of State Joe Harmon, confirmed that approval has been granted to the company.

Am curious if the B767 will be ready for the upcoming Christmas period. OJ has now turned their attention to the JFK-GEO market. YYZ-GEO now has 1 weekly nonstop which operates on Friday. But credit must be given to their maintenance crew. That B757 is one beast.

jm079 wrote:

Bahamas: 100,614Turks & Caicos Islands: 44,974Atlantic OceanCuba: 527,757Dominican Rep.: 768,486Anguilla: 3,001Antigua &Barbuda: 21,196Belize: 21,866Cayman Islands: 23,274Haiti: 11,074Montserrat:307P. Rico: 14,388Jamaica: 372,137St. Kitts &Nevis: 2,142Dominica: 2,722HONDURASAruba: 42,059Saint Lucia: 37,772Caribbean SeaCOSTARICABarb.: 56,191St. Vincent: 5,782Curacao:17,858Grenada: 10,723Trinidad &Tobago: 49,981Pacific OceanPANAMAVENEZUELAGuyana: 17,628

Most of these smaller islands are currently in their peak.

********************************************

DOT Stats May 2017.

149 144 09Q Swift Air, LLC CVG MBJ
149 145 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ CVG
149 147 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ SAV
149 139 09Q Swift Air, LLC DFW MBJ
149 0 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ CLE
149 132 09Q Swift Air, LLC CLE MBJ
149 144 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ DFW
149 141 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL KIN
149 147 09Q Swift Air, LLC ATL MBJ
149 146 09Q Swift Air, LLC MBJ ATL
150 119 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN MIA
173 0 GL Miami Air International KIN MIA
173 67 GL Miami Air International JFK KIN
173 122 GL Miami Air International KIN JFK
173 0 GL Miami Air International MIA KIN
175 127 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MCO
179 80 09Q Swift Air, LLC AEX KIN
179 15 09Q Swift Air, LLC KIN AEX
189 138 WG Sunwing Airlines Inc. CVG MBJ
192 150 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
192 156 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
192 156 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. DTW KIN
192 143 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ DTW
245 0 X9 Omni Air International LLC DFW KIN
360 210 NK Spirit Air Lines KIN FLL
480 446 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. DTW MBJ
480 463 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ DTW
528 490 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. BOS MBJ
528 502 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ BOS
540 436 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL KIN
600 546 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ BOS
600 522 B6 JetBlue Airways BOS MBJ
600 309 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK KIN
640 526 AA American Airlines Inc. LAX MBJ
640 492 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ LAX
664 626 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ ORD
664 618 UA United Air Lines Inc. ORD MBJ
672 494 XP XTRA Airways MBJ STL
672 520 XP XTRA Airways STL MBJ
716 562 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAD MBJ
716 612 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAD
800 712 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN JFK
900 739 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL MBJ
900 716 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ FLL
996 825 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAH MBJ
996 923 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAH
1000 853 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK MBJ
1000 940 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ JFK
1074 966 UA United Air Lines Inc. IAH MBJ
1074 789 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ IAH
1120 848 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ ORD
1120 975 AA American Airlines Inc. ORD MBJ
1144 1063 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MDW
1144 1014 WN Southwest Airlines Co. BWI MBJ
1144 1064 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ BWI
1144 964 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MDW MBJ
1432 1285 UA United Air Lines Inc. EWR MBJ
1432 1320 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ EWR
2030 984 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL KIN
2030 1658 NK Spirit Air Lines KIN FLL
2128 1730 EV ExpressJet Airlines Inc. ATL MBJ
2128 1761 EV ExpressJet Airlines Inc. MBJ ATL
2275 2042 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MDW
2450 2074 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MDW MBJ
2772 2400 OJ Fly Jamaica Airways Limited KIN JFK
2970 1465 OJ Fly Jamaica Airways Limited JFK KIN
3450 2847 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ PHL
3450 2925 AA American Airlines Inc. PHL MBJ
4350 3625 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL MBJ
4350 3701 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ FLL
4433 3820 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ HOU
4433 3791 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ MCO
4433 4032 WN Southwest Airlines Co. HOU MBJ
4433 4085 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MCO MBJ
4482 4114 UA United Air Lines Inc. EWR MBJ
4482 4344 UA United Air Lines Inc. MBJ EWR
4620 2266 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited JFK KIN
4620 3184 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited KIN JFK
4650 4107 AA American Airlines Inc. CLT MBJ
4650 3992 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ MCO
4650 3808 B6 JetBlue Airways MCO MBJ
4650 4288 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ CLT
4774 3088 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited MBJ JFK
4774 3330 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited MBJ FLL
4774 2375 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited JFK MBJ
4774 2484 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited FLL KIN
4774 3229 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited FLL MBJ
4774 3422 BW Caribbean Airlines Limited KIN FLL
4800 3822 AA American Airlines Inc. DFW MBJ
4800 4197 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ DFW
4958 4575 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ JFK
4960 4309 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. JFK MBJ
4960 4726 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. KIN ATL
5118 3834 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL KIN
5280 4821 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
5400 4261 NK Spirit Air Lines FLL MBJ
5425 4477 WN Southwest Airlines Co. BWI MBJ
5425 5024 WN Southwest Airlines Co. MBJ BWI
5440 5087 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
5550 4476 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK MBJ
5550 4974 B6 JetBlue Airways MBJ JFK
5580 5020 NK Spirit Air Lines MBJ FLL
7293 6311 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ PHL
7293 6035 AA American Airlines Inc. PHL MBJ
9087 8532 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. MBJ ATL
9089 8270 DL Delta Air Lines Inc. ATL MBJ
9150 8369 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN FLL
9300 7439 B6 JetBlue Airways FLL KIN
10050 9359 B6 JetBlue Airways KIN JFK
10200 7420 B6 JetBlue Airways JFK KIN
11594 10677 AA American Airlines Inc. CLT MBJ
11594 10600 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ CLT
14080 11621 AA American Airlines Inc. MBJ MIA
14080 10786 AA American Airlines Inc. MIA MBJ
14880 12570 AA American Airlines Inc. KIN MIA
14880 10968 AA American Airlines Inc. MIA KIN
---------------------------------------------------------

MBJShots.
Soon to be extinct livery.





Drowned in a sea of blue.



The multi-colour experience.


Now worried about EW's expansion in MBJ.

Earlier in the summer Mrs Reece spoke about the plans of the airline

Interestingly Fly Jamaica future is not about access to capital as evidently they are more concern about economic matters and how it relates to there business.

Fly Jamaica is concern about the dwelling population of Guyana as they have had to revise there business plan which revolve around of 8 planes over a ten year period.

According to Reece, during a recent interview, “we are measuring our growth very carefully, because the whole world is at a crossroads right now; nobody is sure what’s going to happen next in this world and in our Region we are very vulnerable to changes that we don’t control.”
Moreover, Reece pointed out that among the potential challenges that the company is constantly faced with, is that of a downward spiral of the world economy.
“Obviously if the world economy suffers, all of our communities are going to have less money to travel and travel is often a luxury… after your food and your rent, your school fees and whatever else that is when you go to travel.”

But according to Reece, “our original plan was to have eight, because when we worked out our study in our Region with our number of people, the maximum before you come down when you’re on the bell curve, after eight it was a decline of investment. So we originally thought that over a 10-year period, we would try to get eight (aircraft) on board.”
She continued, “We realised that it wouldn’t be feasible to grow beyond that, unless our population grew beyond that, and we didn’t see it, because our population steadily moved away from our countries. So I think unless we arrest that, we have to follow the original plan…unless our governments try to arrest the migration of our people, we have to stay within the plan.

It is very refreshing to all ways see an update from OJ

https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2017 ... on-course/

The publication from Pulse magazine show the that Fly Jamaica due to location in Guyana and Jamaica with expected to Cuba is looking good to benefit from these long term development plans. With TUI promoting the destination in Europe and with air connectivity becoming more accessible within our region more tour companies will be offering muli-destinational travel.

Surinam Airways has long sought partnerships with regional airlines like Air Jamaica and Caribbean Airlines, but it has always been turned away by the executives of these larger carriers. Now that it has enjoyed a profitable year in 2016, Surinam is finally in a place where expansion is more realistic. Its executives are in talks with Turkish Airlines, and there is the potential of a major code-sharing agreement on the horizon.

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destin ... bbean.html

With Suriname Airways showing a profit in 2016 the airline seems earlier in the year the new CEO : Surinam Airways CEO’s Bold Vision: Expansion Of The Guyana Hub To NYC And Havana

TUIfly

In a major development last week, SLM and the European carrier, TUIfly, announced a code-sharing partnership. The two carriers will fly five-times weekly between Amsterdam and Paramaribo. Four of those flights will be operated by SLM and one by TUIfly using SLM’s Airbus 340 and TUIfly’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, during peak season TUI will increase its frequency to two.

Under the agreement, TUI will buy 80 seats each on two of SLM flights. The agreement has a life of three years. Then both companies will evaluate the partnership, and maybe move to a stronger agreement like what SLM had with KLM, Lachmising said. Also, TUI will charter SLM’s Airbus 340 to use on other routes.

TUIfly, with a fleet of nine aircraft, including three Dreamliner 787s, may enable SLM to move in the direction of twin-engine aircraft (ETOPS) certification to ply the mid-Atlantic route. With ETOPS certification, SLM can use modern and cost efficient aircraft such as the Boeing 767 / 787 and the Airbus 330 / 350.

http://curacaochronicle.com/aviation/su ... nd-havana/

Surinam Airways must ‘think Big’, with a Big vision for the future beyond just Suriname, too many small national carriers think ‘small’ and never achieve their full potential, sticking to old tried ways without much success, yet look at the success of COPA (Panama), Norway Air Shuttle (Norway), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Ryanair (Ireland) to Singapore Airlines (Singapore), think Big, plan Big, act Big and do Big things and you become Big in time, step by step. But if you think small, plan small, act small you will always remain small and insignificant and most likely, not profitable

https://aviationdoctor.wordpress.com/20 ... think-big/

airjamaica wrote:

FLYKTPA wrote:

I think the only problem with TPA-MBJ is that the demand may not be high enough to support a nonstop. Anyhow, I would love to see Spirit fly MBJ-TPA nonstop.

Back in the day NW operated TPA-MBJ, but it was a "through" flight that originated in MSP. Not sure if it originated in DTW at times too. Also JM operated TPA-MBJ back in the 80s, but it was a tag on to the MCO flights. So southbound it did MCO-TPA-MBJ-KIN. Only time will tell if TPA will be connected to MBJ again in the future.

I have a vague recollection of flights being routed though MEM, which may have been DTW-MEM-MBJ.

jm079 wrote:

hummingbird wrote:

jm079 wrote:

TUIfly

In a major development last week, SLM and the European carrier, TUIfly, announced a code-sharing partnership. The two carriers will fly five-times weekly between Amsterdam and Paramaribo. Four of those flights will be operated by SLM and one by TUIfly using SLM’s Airbus 340 and TUIfly’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner. However, during peak season TUI will increase its frequency to two.

Under the agreement, TUI will buy 80 seats each on two of SLM flights. The agreement has a life of three years. Then both companies will evaluate the partnership, and maybe move to a stronger agreement like what SLM had with KLM, Lachmising said. Also, TUI will charter SLM’s Airbus 340 to use on other routes.

TUIfly, with a fleet of nine aircraft, including three Dreamliner 787s, may enable SLM to move in the direction of twin-engine aircraft (ETOPS) certification to ply the mid-Atlantic route. With ETOPS certification, SLM can use modern and cost efficient aircraft such as the Boeing 767 / 787 and the Airbus 330 / 350.

http://curacaochronicle.com/aviation/su ... nd-havana/

Surinam Airways must ‘think Big’, with a Big vision for the future beyond just Suriname, too many small national carriers think ‘small’ and never achieve their full potential, sticking to old tried ways without much success, yet look at the success of COPA (Panama), Norway Air Shuttle (Norway), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Ryanair (Ireland) to Singapore Airlines (Singapore), think Big, plan Big, act Big and do Big things and you become Big in time, step by step. But if you think small, plan small, act small you will always remain small and insignificant and most likely, not profitable

https://aviationdoctor.wordpress.com/20 ... think-big/

This was a January 4th article and those flights ended October 23rd. Plus they were operated by SLM instead of the 2 of them.

jm079 wrote:

[Surinam Airways must ‘think Big’, with a Big vision for the future beyond just Suriname, too many small national carriers think ‘small’ and never achieve their full potential, sticking to old tried ways without much success, yet look at the success of COPA (Panama), Norway Air Shuttle (Norway), Ethiopian Airlines (Ethiopia), Ryanair (Ireland) to Singapore Airlines (Singapore), think Big, plan Big, act Big and do Big things and you become Big in time, step by step. But if you think small, plan small, act small you will always remain small and insignificant and most likely, not profitable

https://aviationdoctor.wordpress.com/20 ... think-big/

Another non Caribbean cowboy who cannot tell you where each country in the Caribbean is located again assuming that the "dumb natives" don't know what they are doing. Yes we have seen these "experts" appear on the scene and wreak havoc. The Irishman who wanted to fly Md83s 100 miles to UVF from BGI and then blaming the whole world when it failed.

PTY is a major Latin American hub. Singapore is a major global hub. PY cannot even fill ONE nonstop flight weekly on a PBM MIA route and he recommends that they "think big". With what capital? They don't have it and neither does the government of Suriname. Plus eco adventure tourist destinations never become major unless there are easy to spot animals visible on a safari.

Costa Rica and Belize do well as they also offer beaches and in fact its to those that most of their visitors flock. Suriname with muddy beaches will never be a major destination. It can grow yes, but for PY to rival CM, RIDICULOUS!

I have done some digging, and the author Ray Chickrie was born in Guyana. He may be good at reporting but is bad at aviation analysis.

http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/29/commentary-suriname-flip-flops-kosovo-western-sahara-recognition/

Fly Jamaica has wet leased Hi-Fly A330-200 CS-TQW. The aircraft was ferried BRU-GEO Thursday. It did GEO-KIN-JFK today and will continue to GEO. The also wet leased Miami Air B738 to operate flights on Thur/Fri. The B752 is currently in MEX doing maintenance.
*****************************************************

According to Ed Barlett, Jamaica is in advanced talks with US over Pre-Clearance facilities at MBJ.

****************************************************

NMIA has published a list of carriers that have added flight for the Christmas travel season.



*******************************************
BW's extra segments filing.


*******************************

gunnerman wrote:

I have a vague recollection of flights being routed though MEM, which may have been DTW-MEM-MBJ.

Originally flights were from TPA then NW switched services to MEM. DTW was launched early 2000s as a Sat seasonal service and it exceeded expectation.

airjamaica wrote:

Only time will tell if TPA will be connected to MBJ again in the future.

Only with a 50 seater.

hummingbird wrote:

Fly Jamaica has wet leased Hi-Fly A330-200 CS-TQW. The aircraft was ferried BRU-GEO Thursday. It did GEO-KIN-JFK today and will continue to GEO. The also wet leased Miami Air B738 to operate flights on Thur/Fri. The B752 is currently in MEX doing maintenance.
*****************************************************

According to Ed Barlett, Jamaica is in advanced talks with US over Pre-Clearance facilities at MBJ.

****************************************************

NMIA has published a list of carriers that have added flight for the Christmas travel season.



*******************************************
BW's extra segments filing.


*******************************

gunnerman wrote:

I have a vague recollection of flights being routed though MEM, which may have been DTW-MEM-MBJ.

Originally flights were from TPA then NW switched services to MEM. DTW was launched early 2000s as a Sat seasonal service and it exceeded expectation.

airjamaica wrote:

Only time will tell if TPA will be connected to MBJ again in the future.

Only with a 50 seater.

Using a 330-200 is very interesting as in the summer a 777-200 was used. I think in the past two they secured a 757 and 767 , while there fleet was out.

jm079 wrote:

hummingbird wrote:

Fly Jamaica has wet leased Hi-Fly A330-200 CS-TQW. The aircraft was ferried BRU-GEO Thursday. It did GEO-KIN-JFK today and will continue to GEO. The also wet leased Miami Air B738 to operate flights on Thur/Fri. The B752 is currently in MEX doing maintenance.
*****************************************************

According to Ed Barlett, Jamaica is in advanced talks with US over Pre-Clearance facilities at MBJ.

****************************************************

NMIA has published a list of carriers that have added flight for the Christmas travel season.



*******************************************
BW's extra segments filing.


*******************************

gunnerman wrote:

I have a vague recollection of flights being routed though MEM, which may have been DTW-MEM-MBJ.

Originally flights were from TPA then NW switched services to MEM. DTW was launched early 2000s as a Sat seasonal service and it exceeded expectation.

airjamaica wrote:

Only time will tell if TPA will be connected to MBJ again in the future.

Only with a 50 seater.

Using a 330-200 is very interesting as in the summer a 777-200 was used. I think in the past two they secured a 757 and 767 , while there fleet was out.

Air Canada and Westjet adding flights at this late stage indicates that there is a demand. AC fare to KIN from Dec 21 - Jan 1, 2018 is 2618.00. Caribbean Airlines 2453.00CAD and OJ fare is 1201.00 CAD which is why so many people are using them

I am not surprised at this. OJ is not adding an extra flight this Christmas despite the demand in the market. By not adding extra flights they will make money this year. They own there planes. Fares for Christmas last year was averaging 898.00 CAD but with less seats available this year and more demand we will continue to see high fare into the new year to Jamaica.

jm079 wrote:

[I am not surprised at this. OJ is not adding an extra flight this Christmas despite the demand in the market.

They aren't adding flights because they don't have the planes. As is they now wet lease and wet leases don't come cheap. Please don't tell me that you think that the Canadian carriers are adding flights because they want to lose $$$.

Given that OJ has a mere 1X weekly on the YYZ KIN clearly they aren't a market factor. AC dominates and BW and WS compete for the rest.

The lack of planes has also prevented OJ from capitalizing on the opportunities on the JFK GEO created by the withdrawal of Dynamic. BW is operating 4 extra sections for Xmas. Outside of this they have added 3 flights so now do 10X nonstop on the JFK GEO. They also offer daily connecting opportunities via POS.

hummingbird wrote:

Fly Jamaica has wet leased Hi-Fly A330-200 CS-TQW. The aircraft was ferried BRU-GEO Thursday. It did GEO-KIN-JFK today and will continue to GEO. The also wet leased Miami Air B738 to operate flights on Thur/Fri. The B752 is currently in MEX doing maintenance.

The 332 made is back to KIN from GEO today at 0527. There is a scheduled flight (OJ272) on Sundays at 0615 to JFK, but it must have been cancelled as I can find no evidence for this flight. OJ is struggling with or without wet-leased aircraft.

OJ will lose money this year because of the disasterous summer peak peroid and the unplanned wet leasing of aircraft (757 & 777). Wet leasing can be profitable in most cases if the aircraft is 120%full. These operators are always anxious to oblige and provide tht service because of the huge profits to be derived.

The A330 left on time to JFK this mrning on behalf of OJ

This is the latest OAG changes. Happy Sunday, lol.

OJ JFK-KIN JAN 0.6>0.2 FEB 0.6>0.1 MAR 0.6>0.1 APR 0.8>0.2 MAY 0.7>0.1 JUN 0.7>0.1 JUL 0.7>0.2 AUG 0.7>0.1
—————————-
MBJ Shots.

Widebody Galore.


Cleared for Take Off.


“ Fire Engine Red”



Jet2 A330 at gate.


Double Airbus Action.
A320 with CFM engines.
A321 with IAE engines.

yankeejuliet wrote:

The A330 left on time to JFK this mrning on behalf of OJ

I found the flight in the end, it departed 1h 25m late at 0740.

yankeejuliet wrote:

OJ will lose money this year because of the disasterous summer peak peroid and the unplanned wet leasing of aircraft (757 & 777). Wet leasing can be profitable in most cases if the aircraft is 120%full. These operators are always anxious to oblige and provide tht service because of the huge profits to be derived.

OJ's 757 has 196 seats (12 Business, 184 Economy). The bigger A330-200 of Hi Fly has 266 seats (24 Business, 242 Economy), which is good news if OJ manages to fill most of the extra 70 seats per flight - but bad news if not as the wet-leasing cost per seat will not be looking good.

yankeejuliet wrote:

OJ will lose money this year because of the disasterous summer peak peroid and the unplanned wet leasing of aircraft (757 & 777). Wet leasing can be profitable in most cases if the aircraft is 120%full. These operators are always anxious to oblige and provide tht service because of the huge profits to be derived.

It is true that it was a disaster for them in the summer with the 767 and 757

It is not accurate in that statement.

With the fall of Air Berlin there are lots of A330 on the market, especially in Europe and planes that sits on the ground do not make money. Hence the airline is able to get a favorable deal . Second, the airline has advance booking up to year from similar to all other airlines and as such has revenue.

Curious as to how you arrive at that conclusion when the market today is good for any wet and dry leases.

Thirdly, after nearly 4 years, the airlines has good standing with banks and creditors. If they did not Fly Jamaica would have closed by now. Common sense

yankeejuliet wrote:

OJ will lose money this year because of the disasterous summer peak peroid and the unplanned wet leasing of aircraft (757 & 777). Wet leasing can be profitable in most cases if the aircraft is 120%full. These operators are always anxious to oblige and provide tht service because of the huge profits to be derived.

Here are some facts:

This was a stark contrast to a few years later in the aftermath of 2001 which saw the demise of some A330-200 operators and the release of used units onto the market. With little appetite for buying used A330-200 in the period 2002-2005, owners, including European export guarantee organizations, were forced to lease aircraft just to generate some income. With new -200s still being delivered and limited demand from a fragile international market, lease rentals on used aircraft fell dramatically. Whereas rates of more than $675,000 were previously cited these fell to less than $500,000. Some rates fell below $300,000 albeit on short term leases. The lessors were conscious that the A330-200 remained one of the newest and most efficient of widebodies and therefore preferred to lease rather than sell during these difficult times although some German institutions sought to liquidate some of their portfolios. The market for the A330-200 was not improved by the number of lessors that had sought to lease the aircraft nor the introduction of the Enhanced version in 2002/2003.

http://www.aircraftvaluenews.com/a330-2 ... -weakness/

No matter how low the wet-lease prices are for 332s, it must be cheaper to repair N767WA which seems to have been grounded for over four months. You have to wonder why OJ has had half of its fleet out of action for so long.

jm079 wrote:

yankeejuliet wrote:

OJ will lose money this year because of the disasterous summer peak peroid and the unplanned wet leasing of aircraft (757 & 777). Wet leasing can be profitable in most cases if the aircraft is 120%full. These operators are always anxious to oblige and provide tht service because of the huge profits to be derived.

It is true that it was a disaster for them in the summer with the 767 and 757

It is not accurate in that statement.

With the fall of Air Berlin there are lots of A330 on the market, especially in Europe and planes that sits on the ground do not make money. Hence the airline is able to get a favorable deal . Second, the airline has advance booking up to year from similar to all other airlines and as such has revenue.

Curious as to how you arrive at that conclusion when the market today is good for any wet and dry leases.

Thirdly, after nearly 4 years, the airlines has good standing with banks and creditors. If they did not Fly Jamaica would have closed by now. Common sense

The Air Berlin fleet is being divided up between Lufthansa and Easyjet along with others like IAG and a few other smaller carriers in Europe so there wont be many of those hitting the market any time soon.

The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) says air navigational services within the island's airspace are far more efficient and reliable now with two new state-of-the-art control towers at the two international airports.
JCAA Director General Nari Williams-Singh says the second of the two new air traffic control towers at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James is to be fully operational by January.
He says parallel transition is about to commence after which operations will be transferred fully to the new tower.
The first tower at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston is already operational.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news ... rol-towers
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestne ... by_January
*************************************

Jamaica no longer operates a national carrier, having sold Air Jamaica to Caribbean Airlines in exchange for a minority stake in the Trinidad-based regional carrier. Another regional carrier, Fly Jamaica, also operates from Jamaica.
"The bottom line is that we have to recreate an industry," said Christopher Read, CEO of Airways International and the Jamaica Aviation Operators and Pilots Association (JAOPA). He said that during Air Jamaica's tenure, the local industry offered a path for advancement for pilots and aviation professions, and that the chain flowed from student, to flight instructor, to courier pilot, to domestic airline pilot, to international.
"With the demise of Air Jamaica, that whole chain came to an end," Read said at the seminar. "There is no more flow of traffic throw there. Students get to stage two of a five-step process and stop there. So the drive has to be about re-energising the opportunities locally," he said.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/busi ... ost-talent
************************************

Contrary to what is stated in the article, the Canadian economic challenges of 2015 did not significantly affect travel out of Canada to the region. The decline in Canadian visitors to Jamaica that followed was, in fact, because of us losing market share to other destinations.
This occurred when Canada's Air Transat, a major carrier for Canadian visitors, redeployed flights from Jamaica to Mexico and Cuba. This was the principal reason for the decline not the economic challenges in Canada. Rather than addressing the challenge right on, effective action was not forthcoming. As such, Jamaica recorded a 6.8 per cent decline in 2015 over the previous year 2014 and further declines early 2016.

Arresting the decline

At the start of Minister Bartlett's administration, he assured stakeholders that he would lead the charge in arresting the decline. The recovery programme was swift and led to meetings with major Canadian travel stakeholders, including Air Canada Vacations, WestJet Vacations, Sunwing Vacations and Travelbrands.
Later, on December 20, 2016, there was a signing ceremony for an Air Services Agreement between Jamaica and Canada to create an environment for more airlift and to help stoke an increase in visitor arrivals. More recently, Jamaica has 40,000 additional airline seats committed for winter from Canada, with Sunwing confirming that they will operate more than 100,000 airline seats for the season, a historic development, including non-stop flights between Montego Bay and Vancouver, Canada's third largest metropolitan area. The Canadian market has started to recover, with the January to October 2017 period recording an increase of 8.2 per cent over the same period last year.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lett ... urist-data
*******************************

jm079 wrote:

With the fall of Air Berlin there are lots of A330 on the market, especially in Europe and planes that sits on the ground do not make money. Hence the airline is able to get a favorable deal . Second, the airline has advance booking up to year from similar to all other airlines and as such has revenue.

Knowing this company, I assume it is covered by the insurance while N524AT is doing checks. No way they would fork out money for this type of lease.

gunnerman wrote:

it must be cheaper to repair N767WA which seems to have been grounded for over four months.

Engines are not cheap. I believe these were owned not leased.
**********************************
MBJ Shots.

Close Up with DL.


Loading up for the flight back to Cuba.


"LUV" Field.


A new visitor operaing on behalf of Blue Panorama's B763 that was grounded in MBJ.





*************************************

Close up with WN.

Another A330 is en route to KIN for OJ.. Aircraft reg is CS-TQP.