Tourism Minister Says Airlift Strategies Yielding Good Results

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has said that airlift security strategies, adopted by Jamaica to increase arrivals from existing and emerging markets, are yielding good results.
Speaking at the weekly Post Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday (July 1), Mr. Bartlett said that for the Fall period, Air Jamaica sold some 3,000 seats within the first two weeks of a sales programme which only began on June 16.
He said that this stemmed from a Fall stimulus programme with the national carrier, which will allow for special sales initiatives. He also noted that plans by Air Jamaica to pull out of the Los Angeles gateway, due to a new airlift arrangement, will soon be finalised.
“We are about to conclude an arrangement with US Airways coming out of Phoenix, and that will give us the connections to all the gateways in that western corridor. In addition, JetBlue is to announce shortly, some new routes which will enable us to utilise their network in the west, so as to fully cover the entire West Coast,” Mr. Bartlett said.
Providing more details on the matter, officials from the Ministry said that the arrangement will work by way of revenue guarantees, rather than by letters of credit or cash.
The strategies adopted involve seat support, such as marketing behind the gateways, to marketing support within the particular airline and tour operators. The service will operate from 31 gateways in the western section of the United States, as well as some Canadian cities.