A new Cayman Islands-based airline is planning to run scheduled flights connecting to the Caribbean and Latin America.
BlueSky Airlines has already launched an “executive jet” service aimed at high-end clients in the business world.
The
service, which allows executives to take day trips on private planes to
meetings in the region, will also target exclusive leisure travelers.
The
next and more ambitious phase of expansion for the fledgling company
will be commercial routes, bypassing the U.S., and linking Grand Cayman
to islands around the Caribbean, as well as central and South America.
The
airline’s directors say they are still finalizing regulatory approvals
and other details before announcing a timeline for the opening of the
new routes.
They plan to use a 70-seater Dash 8 Q400 aircraft,
which can reach cruising speeds of nearly 435 miles an hour – similar to
a Boeing 737, to run island-hopping multi-destination routes connecting
to hubs in Latin America.
Potential routes could include a British Virgin Islands-Grand Cayman-Costa Rica link.
Other potential destinations include the Dominican Republic and Colombia, though the exact schedule has not been finalized.
Aviation
expert Edward Jerrard, who is a consultant for the company, said it
would complement rather than compete with Cayman Airways, bringing in
passengers from around the region who could then access the national
airline’s routes to destinations like Cuba and New York.
The
airline will initially lease pilots and crew with the aircraft but
ultimately aims to recruit and train a locally based workforce of around
50 employees.
Mr. Jerrard said the company aimed to exploit a
gap in the market for travelers looking to skip the headache of
traveling through Miami and connect to Latin America and beyond. He said
it would also link in with other airlines within the Caribbean to
facilitate smoother travel within the region.
“The whole idea is
a smaller airline, smaller fuel-efficient aircraft that will provide
that network of connections between eastern Caribbean, western Caribbean
and Latin America for both passengers and product.
“The key is
bypassing Miami. For a lot of people with visa problems, for example,
the issue of getting to somewhere else in the Caribbean is a nightmare
at the moment.
“For us, the market is the entire Caribbean from BVI west; we are looking at the whole region, not just one territory.”
He
said the connections to central and South America would open up the
possibility of traveling to Australia or Europe without having to
connect through the U.S.
“This will aim to make Cayman more in touch with the world,” Mr. Jerrard said.
“We
have 150 nationalities represented on this island and pretty much one
destination. This will enable a much greater penetration of the world
business market and leisure market into Cayman.”
The directors
say they are undeterred by the financial struggles of Cayman Airways,
pointing out the national airline’s mandate to increase tourism arrivals
for government is an entirely different business model.
BlueSky
spokesman Mark Ellinger added, “BlueSky is uniquely positioned as it
will not compete with Cayman Airways or any of the other carriers into
the Cayman Islands.
“We have carefully identified other routes
to destinations commonly traveled by people moving in and out of the
Cayman Islands. We have designed our offering to take advantage of large
hubs in South America. If you want to fly to South Africa, why would
you opt to first fly north?”
The idea of “skipping Miami” is
also the concept behind BlueSky’s Executive Jet service, which has been
operating quietly for the past few months ahead of a “soft launch” this
week.
The service targets business and high-end leisure
travelers who want to hire private planes for a quick trip, usually to
neighboring countries like Trinidad or Barbados, but potentially to
anywhere in the world.
“Our research shows there is a market for
people who need to get to these destinations quickly. At the moment,
they all have to go through Miami to transfer and we all know the time
taken and the problems that creates,” Mr. Jerrard said.
“Some of
these business people and lawyers are charging these clients a
considerable amount of money and the time taken to get there is all
added to the bill.”
He said the company could get almost any
aircraft for the trip at a moment’s notice. A day trip on a Learjet for
five people to Jamaica would cost around $1,600 per person, he said.
“It
is also for those people who want to go for a day to Cuba or go and
play a round of golf in Punta Cana or Dominican Republic.”
He
said the company planned further expansions, carrying cargo and
organizing and planning holidays for travelers on both the private jets
and the scheduled routes.
“BlueSky Holidays and BlueSky Cargo
will be established to open up new sources of tourism, trade and
commerce for the Cayman Islands and the wider Caribbean,” the company
added in a press statement.
http://www.compasscayman.com
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