Airlift capacity to the U.S. Virgin Islands will get a boost this summer, the Department of Tourism predicted in a news release issued Tuesday.
Tourism Commissioner designee Joseph Boschulte said Delta Air Lines will add a second daily flight between Atlanta and St. Thomas this summer, while the existing New York to St. Thomas nonstop flight will continue through the end of August.
Boschulte also said Delta will make its seasonal adjustment to the Atlanta-St. Croix route with a daily Saturday service from April 6 to August 24, before ramping up its schedule for the 2019-2020 winter season.
“We are steadily restoring confidence in our destination,” he said, adding the department “will leave no stone unturned to maintain and increase airlift to both islands, especially as more accommodations come back on line.”
The tourism leader also said American Airlines was seriously considering restoring its third daily Miami-St. Thomas flight to the market, as well as expressing interest in a new Dallas flight to the destination in the future.
Boschulte said United Airlines will serve the Houston-St. Thomas market beginning in May, with weekly Saturday service, and then daily flights from June 6 to August 19. Nonstop flights between Washington, D.C., and St. Thomas are also scheduled over a similar period, while there will be intermittent Saturday flights between Newark and St. Thomas over the summer, the commissioner designee said.
On the intra-regional front, Boschulte said the department has begun talks with LIAT about increasing frequency or capacity on the Antigua-St. Thomas route, which airline officials reported was performing well. The service currently operates three days a week.
“Our work to encourage our airline partners to serve both St. Croix and St. Thomas is part of our overall marketing continuum,” Boschulte said. “Just as we work with the media and travel wholesalers and retailers to attract visitors to our shores, we are also developing strong relationships with our airline and cruise line partners, who have a very strong appetite for product knowledge and destination developments as they gauge their current routes and itineraries and assess potential new destinations.”
It is great that more flights will be available, especially nonstop flights. This will benefit VI residents who want to go to Washington DC, New York and Houston to visit family or go to top-notch medical facilities, with their gold-plated government employee medical insurance. As for drawing tourists here with the added capacity, my question is ‘for what’? To traverse barely useable roads? To see the mountains of mulch covering valuable real estate next to the destroyed Cancryn school? The twisted and gutted buildings, many of which predate the hurricanes? The garbage? Disaster porn? I give Boschulte credit for trying to sell a damaged and tired product.
I am glad to hear that air capacity will increase. We were hoping to come home this summer; however with the cheapest fares at Delta and AA @ $697and change I don’t know that it will be doable. Add hotel and rental car our visit could end up costing nearly $4,000+ easily. I guess we’d better check out cruise itineraries.