US carriers cut Caribbean flights; region fighting back

St. Lucia's Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Senator Allen Chastanet. (File photo)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 2, 2008 – American Airlines and American Eagle have announced another reduction in their services to the Caribbean, even as regional tourism ministers said they had devised a strategy to help the sector deal with flight cuts by United States carriers.

American Airlines will no longer serve Antigua, St Maarten and Santo Domingo with jet service out of San Juan. It will also reduce flights into San Juan from 38 to 18 from September 3, as well as discontinue nonstop daily service to San Juan from a number of US cities. American Eagle will reduce its Caribbean schedule from 55 to 33 daily departures out of San Juan from September 3 and eliminate daily flights from San Juan to Aruba as well as to Samana, Dominican Republic. Both destinations will continue to be served daily from Miami.

“The crisis in the airline business is real, and the steps American is taking to reduce its schedule are necessary,” American Eagle’s CEO Peter Bowler said in a message to employees.

The carriers have blamed rising fuel prices for the cuts.

The developments in the San Juan, Puerto Rico hub were a cause for concern among regional ministers of tourism who met in Antigua last Thursday to discuss the impact of rising fuel costs and the pull out of some carriers from the region.

“The Puerto Rico hub is very critical to this region not only for the airlift to land-based properties, but clearly the potential implications it may have on our cruise sector as well,” Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Allen Chastanet said, adding that CTO executive board members would travel to San Juan next week to discuss the issue with authorities there.

At the end of the talks, the ministers indicated that dealing with the major cuts in airlift to that Caribbean country would be a priority as they embark on a strategy they had developed to deal with the situation.

Mr Chastanet, who is also St Lucia’s Tourism Minister, said officials had decided to set up four committees to deal with the major areas of hubs, revenue guarantees for airlines, marketing the region and the way forward for regional carriers. A work programme created through the work of those committees is expected to be completed in time for the Caribbean Tourism Summit this month for discussion and ratification.

Mr Chastanet said that it is anticipated “a very strong action plan” will be in place coming out of that meeting to be presented to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government meeting in Antigua next month.

Among the other measures which form part of the ministers’ rescue plan are discussions with major tourism stakeholders across the region and the commission of a study on oil futures to forecast oil prices so that effective plans can be put in place to deal with increases before they actually occur.