Jamaica and St Lucia’s improved flying experience

Jamaicans looking to experience a taste of jazz and other upcoming events in St Lucia, now have better flight access in getting there. A report released notes that regional airline, InterCaribbean, has made travel between the two islands easier with three flights per week originating in Kingston and transiting through Barbados.

There was much to discuss at a social mixer jointly hosted by the airline and the St Lucia Tourism Authority at The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel recently. “The flights are doing very well, sometimes we have full flights coming in and going out. Of course, we had a carnival recently so there would have been more passengers than normal, but we have seen a steady growth”, Carol Fox revealed, country manager for InterCaribbean Jamaica. “I know now they are looking on many different areas of growth. We are looking on Ian Fleming and Montego Bay airports as well. We already fly from Providenciales into Ian Fleming. We have suspended flights now, but we start back in May”, she disclosed.

According to the airline’s Kingston airport manager Yvonne Rankine, the flight schedule sees InterCaribbean flying out of Norman Manley International Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and inversely from George FL Charles in Castries via Grantley Adams on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Cheering on the improved flight connectivity is Christopher Gustave, marketing manager, St Lucia Tourism Authority. “For the first time in a long time, we now can fly direct from Jamaica to St Lucia and vice versa in the same day, no visas required, you don’t have to sleep overnight, it’s a beautiful new initiative. At the St Lucia Tourism Authority, our job now is to make sure the flight is successful, we are here to promote the flights”.

Of the Jazz and Arts Festival slated for April 30 to May 12 — with seven themed nights featuring 36 acts including Davido, Babyface, Air Supply, Machel Montano, Beres Hammond, Teejay, Chloe Bailey, and many other acts— Gustave said the music event, which this year, celebrates its 31st iteration, represents a huge economic boost in his country. “In fact, in 2023 we had the largest festival, the numbers were ridiculous. Each night, we were averaging about 8,000 patrons, it is one of our leading drivers of tourism in St Lucia. We have persons flying in from the Caribbean, from the diaspora. We get a lot of incentive groups where companies will send a lot of their top performers to St Lucia jazz as a reward. We also get Afro-American groups who come in on cruises for jazz”, he added.

Emceed by news anchor, Janella Precius, herself a St Lucian, West Indies cricketer Daren Sammy also joined the presenters to outline and extend invitations to this summer’s T20 World Cup Internationals which will be held from 1 to 29 June in his homeland. Also addressing guests were Odette Dyer, regional director of the Jamaica Tourist Board and Nicola Madden-Greig, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association.