A Turks and Caicos-based airline has revealed plans to bolster airlift into The Bahamas within the next six months in the hopes of promoting trans-Caribbean business and tourism.
Speaking with Guardian Business, interCaribbean Airways (ICA) CEO Trevor Sadler stated that the airline continued to target Caribbean businesspersons and offered unparalleled convenience for traveling within the region.
"We are by far the fastest way to travel throughout the region from here. We're about reducing the connectivity time at very competitive pricing and helping to facilitate doing business throughout the Caribbean," said Sadler, arguing that The Bahamas' location offers an ideal hub for regional business travel.
"Everybody flies into [Nassau]...so what this does is create the ability for someone to come and do business in multiple Caribbean locations...and create 'preview vacations' in these countries."
In addition to offering a convenient method of travel throughout the Caribbean, Sadler argued that the airline could boost regional tourism by circumventing the need to connect through the United States.
"For the Bahamian traveler who perhaps doesn't need a visa to visit some Caribbean destinations, but needs a visa in order to transit through the United States, this is a new option for travel through the Caribbean," said Sadler.
While Sadler noted that the airline's presence in The Bahamas was currently minimal, he claimed that it would expand its airlift into the country within six months. Reports from entities such as ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) have indicated that airlift concerns were one of the greatest issues plaguing The Bahamas' tourism sector as the opening of Baha Mar looms.
"We've been flying to The Bahamas for a number of years now, but what we're doing now is expanding our distribution footprint...through the Global Distribution Systems (GDS). We have just three flights a week right now out of Nassau, but we think we can grow to five soon, which allows us to multiply the number of destinations and the frequency of flights from Nassau.
"Everything we're doing is incremental at this point... We'll only get to grow the airline when we make the connectivity successful, so it's not just about connecting our flights to other [ICA] flights, but about connecting to other airlines, such as Bahamasair," stated Sadler.
The Providenciales-based airline, which has operated for over 20 years, currently employs over 200 people within the region and maintains a fleet of 18 aircraft.

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