From Vegas to Mexico, where should Cayman Airways fly next?

Bring back Montego Bay? Viva Las Vegas? Destination Calgary?

Cayman Compass readers wasted little time on mourning the end of the short-lived Barbados route last week, weighing in with a diverse range of suggestions for where Cayman Airways should consider next.

Most were unsurprised to see that the twice-weekly route between two Caribbean islands famous for sun, sea and sand, had been cancelled. Officials in Barbados, which was subsidising the cost of the service, pulled the plug on the flights that were attracting just 34 passengers per trip.

The demise of the route, from July, frees up a plane and crew for Cayman Airways to consider new horizons.

And when airline executives and tourism officials sit down to decide their next destination, they won’t be short of suggestions.

From Vancouver to Mexico City, from sensible to satirical, from the practical to the pie-in-the-sky, readers have weighed in with suggestions.

Cathrine Welds recommended an airline poll to involve the public in its next decision, suggesting a long list of possible destinations, including Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

There was a lot of support for a suggestion to ‘bring back Mo Bay’.

“Yes man you guys need to put back flights to Montego Bay,” wrote Paula Robinson, saying many Jamaicans were forced to pick up charter flights from Kingston to the northern part of the island to make it home.

Cayman Airways’ new fleet of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets, which are more fuel efficient and have a longer range, have opened up new possibilities that have travellers dreaming big.

“Please open a gateway in Las Vegas,” was the request from Angela Adamiszyn.

Others had their sights set on Canada, with the western city of Calgary a popular choice for readers.

With the Department of Tourism trying to increase arrivals from South and Central America, several travellers were hopeful of new frontiers.

Mexico City and Brazil were among the destinations mentioned.

“Go south into South America. Already enough for north,” wrote Will Jacobs.

Sean Bodden was looking closer to home.

“I say it one last time San Juan, Puerto Rico and you get to the eastern Caribbean before sunset anywhere you want to go,” he wrote, adding that it also opened up a major cruise hub in the region.

Others want to see the national carrier take advantage of local interest in Orlando.

“As summer approaches and families travel to Florida for school break Orlando or mid-week Tampa could be considered. Cities with the recreation and entertainment destinations,” Patricia Bryan added. Good news there for those wishing to travel to the home of Disney – Southwest Airlines will be launching daily service to Orlando in June.

The common-sense suggestion, appearing from multiple readers, was to reinstate a 7.30am daily flight to Miami and a 9:30pm return, to avoid those travellers who have to connect when coming through Florida’s major hub.

George Nowak, better known as Barefoot Man, had a novel, though perhaps less common-sense, suggestion.

“Consider flights to East End – North Side and back – cut down the traffic problem… Gee no one ever listens to me,” he wrote.

Cayman Airways usually collaborates with the Ministry of Tourism on route selection with a view to getting the best economic impact for the island as a whole.

The Barbados flight was treated separately, because it was requested by Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, which refunded any shortfall against a minimum revenue threshold.

A more typical route selection process, rubber-stamped by the auditor general, occurred for the Los Angeles route.

In a case study analysis, the auditor said the process was ‘effective’ and that tourism and airline leaders had ‘collaborated effectively’ to identify other options before selecting LAX as the best route.