Seaborne Airlines Friday announced new nonstop service from Luis Muñoz Marín Airport in San Juan to Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe starting April 1.
The new routes to Melville Hall Airport in Dominica, the Aime Césaire Airport de Fort-de-France in Martinique and the Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe will be flown with the new 34-seat Saab turboprop. The Saab operates with two pilots, a flight attendant, in-flight service and a lavatory.
“These additions are part of Seaborne’s rapid expansion across the Caribbean, with growth focused on providing new connecting service at San Juan,” Seaborne Airlines President Gary Foss said. “While Seaborne is capitalizing on changes in the Caribbean marketplace, much of the growth in jobs is taking place in the U.S. Virgin Islands where planes, pilots and flight attendants are based.”
Foss didn’t have exact numbers at this fingertips, but said Seaborne employs about 175 people.
“And we’ve been adding people left and right,” he said.
With the larger planes comes the need for flight attendants, and Foss said Seaborne just had its first class graduate.
In addition to flight attendants, he said those recently hired include pilots, maintenance crew, mechanics and a recruiter to handle all the hiring.
“It’s a big boon to the local economy,” he said.
With the addition of these three routes, Seaborne will operate more than 625 weekly departures to eight spots from San Juan. They include Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas. Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport at Beef Island Tortola, Virgin Gorda Airport, and the Antonio Rivera Rodríguez Airport in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
The Saab aircraft will operate in the new markets and to St. Croix, St. Thomas and Tortola, in tandem with 17-seat Twin Otters.
This week, Seaborne launched its first interline arrangement with a major carrier, American Airlines, to make connections from all Seaborne cities at San Juan even easier.
Baggage will transfer between Seaborne and American on the ramp at San Juan, as opposed to having to be rechecked with the other carrier, and soon Seaborne will be issuing boarding passes on American flights. Seaborne also recently relocated at Marín airport to be close to American in Concourse D. And soon, all Seaborne flights will be displayed and sold on www.aa.com as part of this new arrangement.
Travelers to Puerto Rico will also have access to Seaborne’s premium lounge at Marin airport. The lounge offers comfortable seating, work areas, charging stations, light refreshments, Wi-Fi access, and DirecTV.
