Air travel capacity to Jamaica is up 8.4 percent this summer over the previous year. Officials from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) report that the destination has secured over 1.4 million air seats for the upcoming summer travel season, which is 108,872 more seats over the same period in 2018.
Additionally, the JTB reports that Jamaica’s primary source market, the United States, has seen the biggest growth, having secured over 100,000 additional seats for the summer travel period between May and August 2019.
In a written statement Donovan White, Jamaica’s director of tourism, said that the destination has welcomed over 1.3 million visitors through the end of March, which generated just under $950 million in revenue for Jamaica’s tourism sector. The increased summer seat capacity should lead to additional growth, he said.
The northeastern United States has seen the most significant capacity increase, the JTB said, accounting for more than half of the seats secured. From New York-JFK, JetBlue has added more capacity and increased frequency to Kingston and Montego Bay and Delta has added daily service to Kingston. From Newark, United Airlines has increased frequency to Montego Bay, and from Baltimore, and Southwest Airlines has increased frequency to Montego Bay.
The southeastern United States has received over 20,000 additional seats for the summer to Montego Bay, the JTB said, with American Airlines increasing flights from Charlotte, Delta increasing capacity from Atlanta and JetBlue adding a second daily flight from Orlando during August.
Additionally, Spirit Airlines has introduced new service to Montego Bay and Kingston. From New Orleans, Vacation Express will reintroduce its charter service to Montego Bay starting May 25 and will operate through to June 22.
In the Midwest, Southwest begins new weekly service on Saturdays from St. Louis to Montego Bay starting June 9.
The western United States will see United Airlines adding extra flights Tuesdays and Thursdays from Houston to Montego Bay. Additionally, Sun Country Airlines will begin new service from Dallas – Fort Worth to Montego Bay starting May 24. This service will operate through to August 19.
The UK and Europe have grown their overall seat capacity to Jamaica by 9,257 seats, or 5.5 percent, compared to last year. This is due primarily to the addition of new service from Manchester, the JTB said, larger equipment from British Airways out of Gatwick and TUI out of Manchester. TUI has also doubled their seat capacity from Belgium and Holland with longer rotations.
Finally, in the Caribbean, new direct service from Barbados twice weekly on Caribbean Airlines largely accounts for a 6 percent increase this summer.
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