Air Jamaica's new schedule to Barbados and the eastern Caribbean routes is exceeding expectations, reports the airline's vice-president of Sales, George deMercado.

DeMercado reports that the carrier's new non-stop daily service between New York and Barbados, with continuing service to St. Lucia (four days per week) and Grenada (three days), is delivering good returns, following the decision by Caribbean Airlines (formerly British West Indies Airways) to pull out from the Barbados-New York route.

"The loyalty demonstrated by West Indians and visitors alike has been extremely encouraging and our business throughout the spring break and Easter holiday season has been rock solid," said deMercado.

Air Jamaica is the national carrier of Jamaica and is also the designated flag carrier of Barbados. During a recent visit to Barbados to mark 10 years of service to the island, the airline's president and CEO, Michael Conway, reiterated Air Jamaica's commitment to the island and the Eastern Caribbean region.

"I know there was a great deal of concern in this market with recent changes that have taken place. Working with a lot of very sincere people who did a vast amount of research, we were able to move quickly and fill a void that came about rather abruptly - that's how serious we take the designation you have given our carrier," Conway told local travel agents.

He added that now that the Government of Jamaica has approved restructuring plans, "We will be doing some re-fleeting, route rationalisation ... and have identified the Eastern Caribbean and particularly Barbados as a major point of emphasis for the airline," hinting that additional flights were in the works in the months ahead.

valuable service

Senator Rudy Grant, parliamentary secretary in Barbados' Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, said Air Jamaica provided a valuable service to Barbados, and the country looks forward to strengthening the partnership to fully exploit the opportunities for continued growth and development of the tourism sector.

"When it was very clear that we were losing service from New York, Air Jamaica came to the table with us and agreed that they would partner with us ... (and) I want to emphasise that we are very grateful for the partnership that Air Jamaica has given us," he noted.

The airline operates daily Airbus A-320 service between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados, with 138 seats in economy and 12 in executive business class.

This new schedule also offers daily, direct service to Montego Bay, via St. Lucia or Grenada, in addition to further connections to and from Air Jamaica's United States' gateways in Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington D.C., Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia.

Air Jamaica:

Provides more non-stop flights to Jamaica than any other carrier with more than 270 flights per week from Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, Orlando and Philadelphia in the United States; Toronto in Canada; and from London in the United Kingdom.

Offers intra-regional service with flights between Jamaica and the Bahamas, Barbados, Bonaire, Cuba, Curaçao, Grand Cayman, Grenada and St. Lucia.