New Caribbean airline eyeing Nassau pre-clearance

Tue, Mar 17th 2015, 12:14 AM

BlueSky Airlines is a private startup airline, based in Grand Cayman, which is looking to launch service in the second half of 2015 and banking on "pent-up" demand for travel within the intra-Caribbean and inter-Caribbean Latin American market, according to company spokesman Mark Ellinger.

Ellinger told Guardian Business that the plan is to start with two planes - the Bombardier Q400, a 71-seat turbo-prop - with expansion up to seven airplanes within the first four years, and to cover the region and eventually beyond.

"The whole aim of BlueSky is to open up new routes within the Caribbean and Latin America. We want to serve markets that at the moment are unserved, or in a few cases, we believe are underserved," Ellinger said. "The entire point is to improve connectivity of passengers and goods throughout the region."

Nassau - and Lynden Pindling International Airport - will be an important link in BlueSky's chain.

"Nassau is one of the destinations we've identified. We think there's great potential there, and we've already been in discussions with the (Nassau) Airport Development Company, the Tourism Development Company, Atlantis and other main providers on the island," Ellinger said. "There's quite a bit of interest from here in going to Nassau."

In addition to The Bahamas, BlueSky Airlines will also fly to the Dominican Republic, Tortola (British Virgin Islands), Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico (Cancun) and Panama.

"We also see some connecting opportunities in Nassau. Even people who are destined for the U.S., but to avoid Miami they can go through Nassau and go through the pre-clearance in Nassau instead of going through the hassle of landing in the U.S.," he added.

"If we talk about the routes we're looking at, that are predominantly brand new routes, we believe that there is a tremendous amount of pent-up demand for these routes because, very simply, for the most part if you want to go from A to B in this part of the world, you end up going through a U.S. hub, usually Miami," Ellinger pointed out.

"For many people that's not even an option because they need a U.S. visa even though they're not planning on staying in the country but just to transit Miami. So from a demand point of view, we believe - we've analyzed and we've researched - demand is actually in these places. In addition, we believe that having direct service will stimulate additional traffic, just by having a direct flight there where none existed before."

BlueSky Airlines has been "in the works" for some time, Ellinger said, pointing out that the company has been incorporated since 2013.

"We've been working for the better part of the last year and a half to lay the foundation and look at all the markets, analyze, develop our business plans and go through the regulatory process, which we've already started last year," he said.

The principal investor in BlueSky Airlines is the Paramount Group, a family-owned conglomerate in Grand Cayman.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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