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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsLocal governmentBryan Administration Committed to Attracting More Flights to St. Croix

Bryan Administration Committed to Attracting More Flights to St. Croix

Christine Kennedy, general manager of Network planning and Global Partnership Development at Delta Air Lines (center), is flanked by U.S.V.I. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. (right) and Commissioner nominee Joseph Boschulte (left), along with members of her team at Delta’s Atlanta headquarters last week.

As the U.S. Virgin Islands announces the return of hotels and resorts to the accommodations landscape over the next few months, the leader of the U.S. territory committed his government to securing increased airlift to fill those rooms, according to a press release issued Monday by the V.I. Department of Tourism.

Speaking after a successful meeting with Delta Air Lines’ leadership team in Atlanta on Thursday, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said a strong aerial highway policy was critically important to the territory’s future, and his administration was exploring every avenue to boost relations with airline partners.

“We have been meeting and talking with airline officials since we took office, and this session here in Atlanta was no different — getting important feedback on the performance of routes into St. Croix and St. Thomas and giving our partners at Delta an update on our tourism rebound and recovery,” said Bryan.

Governor Bryan and Commissioner nominee Boschulte debrief the Delta team in Atlanta.

The governor, who was accompanied by Tourism Commissioner nominee Joseph Boschulte, reported that Delta was generally satisfied with the performance of its routes into both of the territory’s airports, and he committed his teams at both the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) to identify opportunities for capacity increases with the airline.

“It was encouraging to hear how confident Delta’s team is about our product and that they are keen to work with us to bolster Atlanta–St. Croix flights to pre-storm levels when we were experiencing an uptick in demand to the ‘Big Island,'” he said.

“The St. Croix airport has been underutilized for years, so we are looking forward to exploring new ways to put people into seats to St. Croix,” said Bryan, explaining that with Divi Carina Bay Resort expected to come back online later this year, with the expansion in sharing accommodations, and robust business travel demand returning with the resumption of activity at the oil refinery, the conditions looked favorable for increasing flights to St. Croix.

The governor said the airline was encouraged by a very strong uptick in traffic to St. Croix this past March and was satisfied with the performance of its routes from Atlanta and New York to St. Thomas.

The governor told the airline executives that legislation would soon be introduced to attract investors to new hotel and resort projects across the territory.

He will brief the investment community on the administration’s business-friendly approach to hotel development at the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) in Miami next week.

While in Atlanta, the governor and commissioner nominee also met the DOT’s advertising agency of record, J. Walter Thompson Atlanta, and they explored the importance of leveraging data to differentiate audiences and improve storytelling.

About the U.S. Virgin Islands
For more information about the United States Virgin Islands, go to www.VisitUSVI.com, follow us on Instagram (@visitusvi) and become a fan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/VisitUSVI). When traveling to the U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S. citizens enjoy all the conveniences of domestic travel, including online check-in, making travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands easier than ever.
As a United States Territory, travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands does not require a passport from U.S. citizens arriving from Puerto Rico or the U.S. mainland. Entry requirements for non-U.S. citizens are the same as for entering the United States from any foreign destination. Upon departure, a passport is required for all but U.S. citizens.

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