Sky High Aviation bids for Jamaica, DR flights
Published:Sunday | September 4, 2022 | 12:07 AMSteven Jackson - Business Reporter
Sky High Aviation, a Dominican Republic-based airline wants to operate flights to Jamaica starting next month, a move that would further expand the rebound in the travel market.
The company plans to do scheduled air service between the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic (DR) capital Santo Domingo and Kingston, according to documentation from flight regulator, the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) published to allow for public feedback on the airline’s application request.
The airline wants to operate the scheduled service for a year starting in mid-September to September 2023. If approved, the frequency of the flights would be weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays, according to the JCAA filing.
The company isn’t yet taking bookings nor is it marketing the routes based on Financial Gleaner checks of its website.
“We do not travel to Jamaica,” the company responded via its WhatsApp text line.
Sky High plans to fly two Embraer jet aircraft into the island. Its 145LR aircraft carries 50 passengers while its ERJ-190-00R aircraft carries roughly 80 passengers.
Part of the application process involves demonstrating that the airline holds all its airworthiness certifications while also carrying sufficient insurance for its passengers and the public. The local law speaks to heavy aircraft securing insurance up to US$100 million, but it wasn’t immediately clear the precise level of insurance required for Sky High Aviation as the JCAA could not be reached for a comment.
STARTED IN 2012
Sky High Aviation, which started operations in 2012, flies to 15 destinations outside the DR including Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St Kitts, St Maarten, Anguilla, Guadeloupe, Tortola, Antigua, Martinique, Miami in the USA, and four destinations in Venezuela: Caracas, Maracaibo, Porlamar, and Valencia.
Between January and May this year, arrivals in Jamaica from the DR totalled 472 persons or 55 per cent more than the 304 recorded for 2021 but still less than half the 1,038 recorded for 2019, according to Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) data.
Arrivals from the DR account for 3.0 per cent of the 16,000 arrivals from Caribbean destinations between January to May, with The Caymans Islands and Trinidad and Tobago accounting for most Caribbean passengers flying into Jamaica.
The DR has never been a high-volume market for visitors to Jamaica. Roughly a decade earlier, arrivals from that that country totalled 489 persons between January and May 2012 and 602 persons between January and May 2013. During this period, Jamaica Air Shuttle, which operated cross-country flights in Jamaica but also regional flights to destinations including the DR, suspended operations in February 2013. It operated the last direct scheduled flights to that country by a local carrier.
Stopover arrivals to Jamaica suffered a massive fallout with the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Lockdowns continued intermittently in 2021 with 2022. JTB data indicate that for the January to May period this year, arrivals increased by 155.7 per cent, with 937,227 stopovers compared to the 366,499 in 2021. Arrivals are still 18 per cent lower than before the pandemic in 2019.