JetBlue Airways plans New York-Barbados, Jamaica flights

The United States-based JetBlue Airways is planning to start flights from New York to the Caribbean island of Barbados from October 1, 2009. JetBlue will use a 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft for the non-stop, daily service between John F Kennedy International Airport in New York and Grantley Adams Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados.

JetBlue said it would also start a new service to Jamaica on May 21, 2009.

In a statement, Dave Barger CEO of JetBlue Airways, said that the airline expected to have over 20% of its capacity on the Caribbean and Latin American markets by the end of 2009.

About JetBlue’s plans for expansion in the Caribbean and Latin American region, Dave Barger said, “We look forward to building on our success in the Caribbean. We believe that we are well-positioned to take advantage of other Caribbean market opportunities that may arise later in 2009.”

Barbados, Dave Barger explained, was one of the 13 international locations on JetBlue’s growing route map and one of the more than 50 destinations throughout the Americas.

JetBlue Airways, the low-cost airline based in New York, the United States, currently serves 53 cities with 600 daily flights.

JetBlue Airways said in the statement that the new service between New York and Barbados would “help stimulate visitor arrivals to Barbados from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport and also provide connections to cities across the United States serviced by JetBlue.”

The new route, JetBlue said, would provide Barbados with an extra capacity of 54,600 seats annually from the United States, adding that United States was the second biggest tourist-generating market of Barbados, after the United Kingdom.

According to JetBlue Airways’ statement, the Airbus A320 aircraft that would fly between New York and Barbados would offer a host of amenities to passengers, including complimentary seat-back television programming, comfortable leather seats, ample legroom, unlimited free snacks as well as superior customer service.

The website caribbeannetnews.com quoted Richard Sealy, Barbados’ Minister of Tourism, as saying that JetBlue Airways has “an excellent reputation in the aviation industry and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership.”

The Barbados Tourism Authority, Richard Sealy added, had “filled the void left by Air Jamaica’s withdrawal of its Barbados-to-New York route by brokering a new non-stop daily service with JetBlue Airways.”