{"id":170300,"date":"2023-03-09T12:57:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=170300"},"modified":"2023-03-09T12:57:13","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T16:57:13","slug":"flight-turbulence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/flight-turbulence\/","title":{"rendered":"Flight turbulence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

(Trinidad Express) \u2014 It is much more difficult to get to Trinidad and Tobago by plane than it was pre Covid-19 due to the loss of all Liat\u2019s flights, all flights out of Canada, except Caribbean Airlines and a significant reduction in service out of Florida.<\/p>

\"\"<\/div>\n

Figures provided to the Express Business by the Airport\u2019s Authority for the month of February, leading up to this year\u2019s Carnival, show the number of flights coming to Trinidad and Tobago from all destinations decreased by a massive 46 per cent. There were 408 flights this year compared to 760 in 2020. It must be noted that for both years Carnival fell almost on the same date and therefore the peak demand period was the same.<\/p>\n

Liat no longer has service in 2023 as compared to 2020 when all its flights were functional and provided much connectivity to the rest of the region.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

American Airlines operates one turnaround flight per day compared to 2020 when it operated one turnaround and one overnight flight. JetBlue has pulled its Ft Lauderdale route and now operates only one flight compared to 2020 when there were two flights per day. WestJet and Air Canada no longer fly to Trinidad compared to 2020 when they operated pre-Covid.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The statistics also show that Caribbean Airlines simply cannot pick up the slack with its limited number of aircraft and routes.<\/p>\n

In a telephone interview with Express Business, General Manager of the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Hayden Newton said: \u201cAll of the major airlines have had challenges in terms of pilots and staffing. There were challenges with SouthWest and American Airlines with their pilots. There was the zeal to come to Trinidad, but there weren\u2019t enough flights coming in. For example, from Canada, the only carrier was Caribbean Airlines. Then there is the challenge of the labour laws in Canada with regard to flying to a particular jurisdiction. Flights coming out of Toronto (major hub) and other parts of Canada were down.\u201d<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

He added: \u201cIf you look at American, they would have had about three flights per day in 2020. CAL has JFK, Miami and Ft Lauderdale. JFK and Miami operate every day. Ft Lauderdale did not operate daily. It\u2019s either three times per week at Fort Lauderdale and Orlando operated twice per week. CAL has other flights that go twice weekly to the United States. American had much fewer flights into Trinidad. JetBlue operated only the normal JFK flight. They did not have the Ft Lauderdale which they had in 2020. Before, JetBlue had two flights daily \u2013 one from JFK International Airport and one from Ft Lauderdale. United might have been the only one that operated in the same manner like 2020,\u201d added Newton.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The story is not much better between Trinidad and Tobago with 287 flights arriving at Piarco from Tobago and that is in comparison to 2020 when there were 417. A decrease of 28 per cent.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n