American Airways has introduced plans to launch direct flights from Miami to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, come February 2024.
As of February 24, “service to Ocho Rios will function twice weekly with an Embraer 175 plane with capability for 76 passengers, connecting with American’s hub at Miami Worldwide Airport,” the airline mentioned in a launch on Thursday.
The flights will come into St. Mary’s Ian Fleming Worldwide Airport — positioned about 20 minutes from Ocho Rios. The airport, which underwent main renovations lately, welcomed its first worldwide business flight final yr.
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett mentioned he expects the brand new flights to offer a major boon to tourism and air journey amongst Jamaicans in that part of the island.
“We’re delighted with American Airways’ determination to introduce a brand new service to Ian Fleming, serving an space I name Jamaica’s Riviera,” Bartlett mentioned.
“This marks a major milestone in Jamaica’s ongoing journey to strengthen its place as a premier and straightforward to get to tourism vacation spot. The introduction of this route can also be a constructive one for our stakeholders in St Ann, St Mary, Portland and past as it’s going to tremendously improve the accessibility of Ocho Rios, making it extra handy for travellers to discover the wonders of those stunning areas,” he added.
American Airways Vice-President for Worldwide Operations José A. Freig mentioned: “With this new route we additional strengthen our place because the main airline in Jamaica, working this winter greater than 100 weekly flights to the US.”
The brand new service will signify the launch of American Airways’ third vacation spot in Jamaica. It at present affords service to Kingston from Miami and to Montego Bay from Miami, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Price, New York, and Philadelphia.
Freig mentioned the Miami to Ian Fleming Airport service will make American Airways the primary US airline to supply entry to that gateway in Jamaica, which he described as a “Caribbean paradise.”
The service was initially scheduled to start in November 2022. Nevertheless, a month earlier than information emerged that American requested further air navigation providers to function its plane to and from Ian Fleming Worldwide.
New tourism developments for Jamaica
Simply final week, it was introduced that low-cost provider Southwest Airways will likely be providing a weekly flight from Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, to Jamaica. The flight will arrive on the Sangster Worldwide Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay on Saturdays all through the winter season.
Minister Bartlett mentioned the brand new developments make Jamaica essentially the most related Caribbean island to the U.S.
“We cowl 18 gateways that join us to over 100 cities throughout the U.S. That makes Jamaica essentially the most related Caribbean vacation spot to the US,” he famous.
Bartlett mentioned that the island is on observe to shut out the yr with some 2.9 million stopover guests and expressed optimism of surpassing the three-million mark in stopover arrivals subsequent yr, with earnings of greater than $4.5 billion.
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Final month, Bartlett mentioned that the nation witnessed its most sturdy summer time season in recorded historical past. He shared that stopover guests surpassed 800,000.