No gov’t concessions or minimum seat guarantees in AA airlift deal
The BVI government has given no trade-offs in order to secure flights from American Airlines, which is expected to begin transporting passengers between the BVI and Miami in the US mainland next summer.
This was the indication given by Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley at a recent press conference.
Premier Wheatley described the airlift deal as a game-changer for the BVI and said it opened a lot of opportunities for residents.
“We know the airlift situation has not been easy for our people, especially persons who need to travel to the US mainland; whether it is to visit friends and family, for school, or to conduct business,” the Premier said.
“Daily direct flights between the BVI and Miami shows that American [Airlines] has a great deal of confidence in the Virgin Islands as a destination. Their interest is such that we did not have to spend one cent to get them to add this service. We did not even have to offer concessions and minimum guarantees,” the Premier stated.
When the former National Democratic Party government secured a similar deal with the now defunct airline, BVI Airways, that government spent $7.2 million to, among other things, pay off BVI Airways’ debts, pay fees required by aviation regulators, and pay the salaries of the airline’s pilots, flight attendants, and ground crews.
A refocused approached to airlift
Premier Wheatley said the achievement of securing the deal is a result of a refocused approach towards air service development taken by the government. He said this refocus is aimed optimising the airport’s current facilities and capacities while simultaneously fine-tuning what he referred to as the airport’s master plan to meet future demand.
The deal could see even more pilots being trained in the territory, and the Premier said this could prove a positive factor for encouraging more airlines to operate in the BVI since the necessary human resources will be on the ground.
The Premier argued that insufficient airlift has plagued the territory’s tourism industry and its economy for years, forcing persons to catch connections and suffer expensive inconveniences.
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Sounds too good to be true. If it is so, surely this also means AA can stop this service whenever they so desire.
It was Andrew who started the negotiations and he wasn’t given the praise
The fares appear much lower than they did at first.
Reasonable in fact.
If this works it is a game changer for tourism.
Now we need to abolish the ridiculous entry tax ( put it in the fare ) and treat arriving tourists like honoured guests and not like criminals.
Almost 10 years ago this airline made the same promises as AA is making right now in late 2013 and most of 2014. Then this airline allegedly suffered from various flying/landing license approvals by the US government which resulted in no flights ever from late 2014. Hope this predicted AA direct flight resolves all their license issues well before June 2023.
I agree…this environmental tax really leaves tourists with a bad impression as soon as they step on our soil they have to pay $10.00. Add it in some fees or abolish it altogether if we don’t know where the money is going to.
Yes, it was Andrew who started the negotiations and the one who was looking into the recovery of the lost 7million.
Whilst government trying to save money the DPP is losing cases because she is inept and out at sea without a paddle…..
Breaking News Police Officer Sgt. MS walks out of court as prosecutors were only grand standing and were unable to bring a case against him.
Sue their ms Sir
This is a good critique but WE CANNOT HAVE OUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.
Many of you ghost bloggers can’t accept the fact that this is a major accomplishment by these guys.
Time to but the BS aside and give kudos to those in office for making this happen.
It was SkyHigh he was referring to, not American. Get your facts straight.
Praise Andrew!! and we miss the cocaine would be enjoying if he was still our praise to god leader. Also, maybe the coke cartels would underwrite the AA flights so we could afford them.
even worse when they see the environment that their tax is supposed to be helping!
Almost every country in the world charges an environmental tax or whatever its called in other countries why should we be any different, most tourists don’t give a rats a** what they do especially the ones the smokers.So keep the tax just ensure it is used for the purpose it was instituted for.