Caption: Frontier airlines arrive at Piarco International Airport. AZP News/Prior Beharry
By Prior Beharry
A NEW “low-cost airline” launches a service three-times-a-week between Trinidad and Tobago and Puerto Rico.
The inaugural flight from the Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU) landed at the Piarco International Airport on Thursday.
Trinidad is Frontier’s 12th Caribbean destination, Frontier is headquartered a Denver, Colorado and operates flights to more than 120 destinations in the United States, Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.
A ceremony was held on Thursday at Gate 7 of the Piarco International Airport where the first flight from Puerto landed and another returned. Both flights were fully booked.
Present at the ceremony were Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan, Minister of Tourism Randall Mitchell, Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon, Independent Senator Anthony Vieira, Minister in the Ministry of Works and Transport Richie Sookhai and Frontier Airlines Senior Director of Network Planning Jonathon Kaufman.
Mitchell said, “The introduction of these flights will add over 2,000 seats monthly between our diasporic markets in North America and Trinidad and Tobago via Puerto Rico, providing further and low cost options for travellers, and providing many, many opportunities for us here to welcome visitors coming for business, leisure or simply to visit friends and family.”
He said, “Significantly, this expansion will profoundly our tourism sector. It means an increase in convenient and frequent connections to our beautiful islands for travellers who are eager to experience our rich and unique cultural traditions. This rise in numbers will not only support a myriad of sectors including our accommodation, manufacturing, and hospitality industries, but will also drive sustainable job creation which will foster our country’s overall economic growth.”
Kaufman said in Puerto, Trinidadians could experience the shopping and the history of old Spanish colonial cities.
He said, “We’re very excited to be able to use San Juan as a gateway to wealth of destinations that we serve along the eastern seaboard of the US, with seamless connections in both directions.”
Kaufman said the destinations that Frontier fly to included Miami, Orlando, Tampa New York, JFK, Newark and Philadelphia.
Sinanan said the government supporting and expanding the aviation sector.
He said, “In terms of the focus of the Ministry of Transport, in terms of the aviation sector, we were responsible for one air service every month…”
Sinanan said more agreements have been signed off in the last two years than in the past 25 years.
He said, “So recently, we signed with Qatar, the Netherlands, and we are on the verge of signing with Ghana and Nigeria. This gives us access to a lot of airlines and countries because we now have agreements with several countries that we did not have before.”
Sinanan said the new Tobago terminal building should be commissioned by next February, adding, “once that Tobago airport is commissioned, we expect a lot more airlines to be flying between T&T and the rest of the world.
He added that the Airports Authority will be hosting the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) two-day seminar that expected more than 200 chief executive officers and managers of airlines.
Sinanan said the solar park at the airport will be commissioned and has reduced electricity consumption by about 7% or 8%. He said this was expected to increase to 30%.
While Frontier tickets may be low compared to other airlines, baggage fees are not usually included in these “low-cost” rates.
