[Jamaica Observer] – Caribbean Airlines, the Trinidadian national carrier which now includes Air Jamaica, has signed a new interline deal with Emirates, the Dubai-based airline with more than 142 global destinations.
The deal follows a larger one for Emirates, which recently entered a similar arrangement with Qantas, the Australian airline.
“Caribbean Airlines envisages that other markets will open up allowing passengers seamless transitions through some of the world’s major cities,” the release said.
Several former Air Jamaica pilots currently fly for Emirates as well as other Arabian airlines such as Etihad and Qatar Airlines.
The deal will provide customers with a greater choice of destinations and easy transfers at key airports such as London’s Gatwick and JFK in New York. Customers will also have the ability to take advantage of through fares from the extensive Emirates network via London and new York to Kingston, Montego Bay, Port of Spain and Georgetown.
The result will be easier global connections with attractive fares on a single ticket, according to a recent news release from Caribbean Airlines.
“For example, a passenger travelling from Mumbai, India, can fly on one of Emirates’ six daily non-stop flights to their hub in Dubai, then connect to one of their three daily non-stop services to London Gatwick and connect to one of Caribean Airlines four weekly non-stop flights to Port of Spain.” the release said.
“Caribbean Airlines is thrilled to expand our relationship with Emirates, which is a significant powerhouse in the airline industry,” said George Reeleder, vice-president for commercial and customer service at Caribbean Airlines.
“Emirates carries more passengers to and from the Indian sub-continent than any other airline in the world, and they fly to 19 cities on the African continent — all key markets for the Caribbean.,’ he said. “Simpler transits and connections with more destination options will make it easier for our customers to travel the world.”
While Emirates doesn’t fly to the Caribbean, it already flies to 14 destinations in the US, Canada and South America, including Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago and Dallas in the US, Toronto in Canada, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
With a fleet of more than 230 state-of-the-art aircraft, Emirates flies to more than 140 destinations in some 80 countries. The airline says that its network is constantly expanding, with more than 1,500 Emirates flights departing Dubai each week. Emirates employs more than 62,000 people, according to its website.
With a fleet of 21 aircraft, Caribbean Airlines is a considerably smaller airline in comparison. It flies to a total of 19 destinations in the Caribbean, Americas and the UK. Caribbean Airlines is headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago with an operational base in Jamaica, and employs more than 1,600 people.
Have you any idea how vindictive and STUPID this current administration is when they announced a scaled back of the CJIA and subsequently the suspension of all construction?
An expanded and modern airport would have attracted many world class airlines and used as a hub for other destinations especially in South America and Africa. But this Administration through political spite, acted in the most unpatriotic way all because that and other projects are associated with the PPPC administration
The Got of Guyana needs to explore more avenues to have international airlines entering guyana. This healthy competition will create more benefits in prices to the travellers. As oppose to one big airline always manipulating the market.