BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS - Continuing to expand upon a successful airline-destination partnership, American Airlines will fly a second weekly non-stop flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to St. Kitts on Wednesdays, complementing the carrier's existing non-stop Saturday service from JFK.
"I am very pleased to welcome the addition of this mid-week flight by American Airlines," said the Hon. Mr. Lindsay F.P. Grant, Minister of Tourism, International Trade, Industry and Commerce. "It's wonderful to receive this additional service from a valued partner, which provides visitors and Diaspora alike with more ways to get to island from our primary source market. This is a testament to American's confidence in our tourism product."
Starting on December 18, 2019, American Airlines will operate the flight utilizing a 176-seat Boeing 757 with 16 business class seats through February, and then a 160-seat Boeing 738 with 16 business class seats.
Racquel Brown, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, added, "The timing of this additional flight is particularly significant, as American just launched summer non-stop service from Dallas this past weekend and expanded twice-daily service from Miami International Airport (MIA) to 5 days a week in 2017. The addition of mid-week service year-round from the New York metropolitan area indicates a growth in the marketplace concurrent with our marketing initiatives. This new service is part of our specific strategy to grow our tourism industry by building out airlift from select target gateways with our air partners to support the destination's expanding hotel product."
American Airlines is the carrier operating the most seats into St. Kitts. In addition to the new Wednesday non-stop service from JFK, American also serves St. Kitts non-stop on Saturdays from JFK and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) year-round. The carrier also flies to St. Kitts non-stop on Saturdays from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in the summer, with service having just launched May 25, 2019. American further provides year-round, non-stop daily service to St. Kitts from MIA, with twice-daily flights operating five times weekly (Wednesday through Sunday).
American's new Wednesday JFK flight provides extra capacity to carry passengers to island, thereby supporting potential air arrivals growth for St. Kitts for 2020. Already for the first four months of 2019, St. Kitts is reporting a system wide increase in air passenger arrivals of +14.5% as compared to the same period in 2018. From all North American carriers, St. Kitts' air passenger arrivals increased +17.2% for January through April 2019 as compared to the same period in 2018.
