To mark the occasion and welcome new flights to St. Croix, the Department of Tourism met passengers and crew of American Airlines flight no. 879 from Miami with music and canvas beach bags full of goodies Thursday evening at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.
Three new flights began this week, bringing the airline up to 10 weekly. The additional flights will arrive on St. Croix Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:35 p.m., stay overnight and depart 10 a.m. the following day. All are on Boeing 737 aircraft with a capacity of 148 passengers. The maiden flight brought about 72 people to the big island.
"We just wanted to give everyone a warm welcome, not just to the passengers but to the crew who we will be seeing regularly now," said Brad Nugent, assistant commissioner of Tourism, who was there with a team of friendly faces.
"This is so nice," said American Airlines Flight Attendant Collette Valentin. "I’m going to make this my beach bag."
In December, both Delta and US Airways are adding seasonal flights to St. Croix, too. While flight seats to St. Croix dropped from 5,500 in the 2007 season to about 5,200 in the 2008-09 winter season, this year should see more normal numbers. In the medium-term, Tourism would like to see about 7,100 filled seats come every year to the territory. More arrivals than that will require additional hotel room capacity on the island, Nugent said.
