CAL begins flights to St. Kitts and Nevis as focus intensifies to minimise challenges to intra-regional travel
With the Caribbean region being the second largest source of tourists to St. Kitts and Nevis, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew has welcomed the introduction of Caribbean Airlines’ flights to the country. Caribbean Airlines will provide airlift five times weekly from Trinidad and Tobago via Antigua and Barbuda to St. Kitts and Nevis.
Prime Minister Drew welcomed the inaugural flight of Caribbean Airlines to the Federation during a ceremony at the Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw International Airport, on July 24, noting that the arrival of the airline signifies a new era of opportunities and possibilities for the people.
“Intra-regional travel is key to the sustainable development of our nation. As Caribbean brothers and sisters, we cannot and must not be solely dependent on our international visitors, but I want to encourage us today, even with the arrival of Caribbean Airlines to travel within the region as well and help to build our own economies,” Prime Minister Drew stated.
The St. Kitts and Nevis Information Service (SKNIS) said that while welcoming Caribbean Airlines, the Prime Minister emphasised his concerns in relation to regional travel. He had raised the challenges of intra-regional travel when CARICOM Heads of Government met in The Bahamas in February this year, pointing out that that intra-regional travel is an issue that must be faced head-on.
“For whatever the legacy issues were, I do not think the people of the Caribbean are willing to continue to hear those,” Prime Minister Dr. Drew said.
He said the airline is not not only expanding “our tourism product, but you are also keeping families together.”
“When I was in the Bahamas, I told them that if we could not fix it that St. Kitts and Nevis was willing to go on its own of getting the situation resolved because our second largest source of visitors to St. Kitts and Nevis, comes from the region,” said the honourable prime minister.
“It means therefore that if there is no interconnectivity and intra-regional travel that is robust enough to maintain those levels, then our tourism product cannot expand and grow and that will affect our economy and our people’s opportunity to advance,” he said.
Prime Minister Dr. Drew added that it was critical that the decision was made to go forward with Caribbean Airlines as these ventures will seek to resolve intraregional travel.
At the press conference following the historic 45th Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month – which coincided with the 50th anniversary celebration of CARICOM – CARICOM Chairman, the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica said:
“There is no doubt that we have to address the issue of intra-regional travel. … It’s impossible to get from one island to the other. The role which LIAT played in intra-regional travel, we have not been able to fill that void and therefore, we must come up with an arrangement that will help us fill that void created in the absence of LIAT,” he acknowledged.
Prime Minister Skerrit was high in praise of the support from entities including Caribbean Airlines, Bahamas Air and Inter-Caribbean which filled the breach left by LIAT.
The CARICOM Chair referred to a study on regional transportation that was completed by the Caribbean Development Bank which should be submitted to CARICOM Heads of Government shortly.
Among the objectives of the Community’s Transport Policy identified in Chapter Six of the Treaty are the organisation of efficient, reliable, affordable transport services throughout the Community, as well as the promotion of cooperative arrangements for the provision of transport services.
Reliable intra-regional transportation and connectivity are also key elements of the Region’s quest for food security.
Source: CARICOM TODAY