Tour representatives await arriving passengers in the Sangster International Airport lobby last year. The airport is Jamaica's main international tourist entry point.. - FILE
AIR JAMAICA cannot resume flights to St. Lucia because traffic through its Montego Bay hub has taken a battering, says its executive chairman Dr. Vincent Lawrence.
Flights to several eastern Caribbean destinations were suspended in mid-March due to enhanced safety measures imposed on the airline reducing its flight schedule. Following the suspension, several United States airlines had started flying to the destination, Dr. Lawrence told St. Lucia's Minister of Commerce, Tourism, Investment and Con-sumer affairs Philip J. Pierre, last Friday.
SIGNIFICANT DECLINE IN CONNECTING TRAFFIC
The increased traffic bypassing Montego Bay has caused a "significant decline" in connecting traffic between the airline's Montego Bay hub and St. Lucia, the executive chairman said.
The fall in the traffic between Montego Bay and St. Lucia was the cause of the continued suspension, Dr. Lawrence said in a statement.
The Air Jamaica Acquisition Group, Air Jamaica's former owners, had sought to establish The Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay as the regional hub for passengers flying from various points in the United States, to get to destinations in the Caribbean. But the airport is Jamaica's busiest, and traffic to the eastern Caribbean forms a relatively small part of its overall business.
Dr. Lawrence, appointed to head the airline after it was re-nationalised in December, told the St. Lucian minister that it would not be possible to resume flights to the island during the next few months.
The airline also announced Sunday that it will suspend service to the Dutch Caribbean territory of Bonaire.
Air Jamaica's four flights per week to Bonaire will end in August, public relations manager Sandrea Falconer said.
