United Airlines 737 In St. Kitts
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis,
December 24, 2015 (SKNIS)
The tourism sector in St. Kitts and Nevis is poised to benefit with the addition of another direct flight from North America into the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw (RLB) International Airport in St. Kitts.
On Saturday December 19, 2015, United Airlines made its inaugural flight to St. Kitts and Nevis from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, with about 150 passengers. The United Airlines 737 Dash 800 aircraft is scheduled to have its direct flight on Saturday’s, leaving Newark at 9:00 am and arriving in St. Kitts at 2:10pm; it departs the RLB International Airport at 3:05 pm and arrives at Newark Liberty International Airport at 6:35 pm. The 737 Dash 800 series has a seating capacity of 154-166 passengers.
Government officials, including Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Lindsay Grant, Minister of Civil Aviation, the Honourable Mark Brantley and officials from the St. Kitts Tourism Authority were present for the momentous occasion.
Prime Minister Harris said that the addition of another flight to the destination of St. Kitts and Nevis could not have come at a more opportune time as the country is “certainly on the move.”
Our tourism plant is growing in leaps and bounds and our economy is enjoying very strong growth,” said the prime minister. “You have come when we are on the uptake and we are happy that you have come to partner with us. We hope that from here on we will only move from success to success.”
Minister Grant said that as St. Kitts and Nevis moves towards high end tourism, it was significant to note that there were many first class passengers, adding that St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to make provisions for tourists with a more discerning taste.
“We have Kittitian Hill, which is scheduled to have 81 rooms by the end of December,” he revealed. “We have the Ocean Terrace Inn, which recently rebranded 51 rooms. We have the brand new Park Hyatt hotel coming to St. Kitts, the only Park Hyatt for the Caribbean, and we are exceptionally proud of that. We have the Embassy Suites by Hilton, and so over the next two years, the product that we will deliver to the tourism industry in St. Kitts and Nevis will be phenomenal.”
Representative of United Airlines, Darrell Scott, who played a significant role in bringing the airline to the federation, said that United is very pleased to begin offering service from the island to Newark Liberty “where United operates the largest and most comprehensive hub in the New York City area.”
Mr. Scott explained that “from Newark Liberty, United operates flights to more than 300 destinations in the Americas, with more than 100 destinations served nonstop.”
“The new flight from St. Kitts will provide convenient connections to various destinations across the United States, including Washington D.C, Boston and Chicago,” said Scott, while highlighting that St. Kitts “is a very welcomed addition to United’s route map and grows United’s Caribbean network to 19 destinations.”
He further expressed his gratitude to United’s customers, travel agents and tourism officials of St. Kitts and Nevis for warmly welcoming United to the federation, while Minister Brantley gave the toast to the success of the flight and the strengthened partnership between United and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.