Basseterre, St. Kitts — Sun Country Airlines out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, will begin regular scheduled non-stop flights into the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw (RLB) International Airport in St. Kitts in December, according to Minister of Tourism, Honourable Lindsay Grant.
This will be the first time there will be a no-stop service out of the Upper Midwestern region of the United States to St. Kitts and Nevis. Minister grant explained that flights more or less come from the Eastern seaboard. This new flight will give persons in the Midwestern region the opportunity to connect non-stop into St. Kitts and Nevis.
The service will begin on Dec. 22 and will run until April 20, 2019. It will be a once per week flight on Saturdays.
Minister Grant explained to the National Assembly on Sept. 6 that the main reason that the Midwestern flight is being engaged is because of the collaborative efforts between the St. Kitts Tourism Authority and the Nevis Tourism Authority.
“Of course there was a clamour I believe from the hoteliers in Nevis that this would be a significant area for them,” Minister Grant said. “When we engaged the Nevis Tourism Authority, we felt that this would be a good match for us.
“There has always been a drive to increase flights to the Federation,” said the minister, adding that “flights can be economically beneficial to flyers.
“In fact, Mr. Speaker, I was looking at the fares yesterday,” Grant said. “We will be looking at coming out of the Midwest and the fares are looking like somewhere in the region of US $600 round fare.” he said. “That is a good rate because I believe when we look at the rates now to Miami we’re somewhere in the region of $1,000 and we have a large segment of the population saying that those flights are pretty steep.”
Minister Grant said that it is hoped with the advent of more flights and competition there will be a decrease in rates.
Additionally, he stated there are approximately six million persons of medium to high net worth in the Mid-western region of the US. The minister said, “It is expected that some of those persons in that region will be captured by both the Nevis and St. Kitts market.”
He said the Federation is pleased to welcome Sun Country Airlines and that it will augur well for both St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We really hope we will have a symbiotic relationship with this airline and persons would use it and more importantly that it will pay us dividends,” said Minister Grant.
According to its official website, “Sun Country Airlines is a privately-held company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. The award-winning airline is a leader in leisure travel flying to more than 50 popular destinations across the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, having earned a reputation for offering world-class service at an affordable price.”
