MoBay to get new flights from Europe

WESTERN BUREAU:

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said that commencing this October, several new flights will be making their landing at the Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay, St James, directly out of Eastern Europe.

"We are expecting to have the commencement of a number of flights out of Eastern Europe, notable of which will be Pegas Fly, which will come straight out of Moscow into Montego Bay on October 24," Bartlett told The Gleaner yesterday.

"After we leave the Canadian market, we will be going to the European market. We have the Jamaican travel market in London on September 27, which will then take us to France and the other areas of Europe."

RUSSIAN TOURISTS

Bartlett also stated that after the flight from Moscow on October 24, Jamaicans can expect to see an increased presence of Russian tourists coming into the island. He said that this trend should continue into the summer of 2019.

"This is the period for the markets. We do our road shows from September to December to enable not just the strengthening of the winter market arrangements, but also to begin to build for the summer as this business of tourism is an all-around-year activity," noted Bartlett.

"We are also expecting Latam Airlines to commence early next year, and that will be a huge connection for us out of Lima (Peru), which is a major gateway in South America. When we add that to the 11 flights a week that we now have with Copa, we will be the most connected destination out of South America in the western Caribbean."

Bartlett went on to state that the Canadian airline Westjet is to commence non-stop flights between the cities of Calgary and Montego Bay starting November 3, while Canada's newest low-cost carrier, Swoop, a subsidiary of Westjet, will commence twice-weekly non-stop flights between the city of Hamilton in Ontario and Montego Bay, starting December 16.

Added to that, leisure airline Sunwing, which will commence once-weekly non-stop flights between the city of Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, and Montego Bay, starting in December and ending in April next year, travel business to Jamaica will be at an all-time high.