Tourism Minister Gary Rutty, airline mascot Sir Turtle and a host of other dignitaries were at Owen Roberts International Airport on Tuesday, 16 Dec. to welcome the arrival of the first nonstop service from Porter Airlines from Toronto.
Passengers on the inaugural flight, which landed ahead of schedule, were greeted with a personal welcome from Rutty and Tourism Ministry Chief Officer Stran Bodden, as well as officials from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, before enjoying free Cayman-branded treats and rum cocktails in the arrivals lounge, accompanied by live steel pan music.
The new route will fly from Toronto Pearson International Airport three times a week, with a new weekly Porter Airlines service from Ottawa International Airport starting on Friday, 19 Dec. The Ottawa flight marks the first-ever nonstop service to the Cayman Islands from Canada’s capital, with both routes giving Canadian travellers more convenient options to reach the Cayman Islands and offer more connectivity from regional markets across Canada.
Speaking at the event, Rutty said, “Canada has always long been one of our most important and valued tourism markets. Canadian travellers return to our shores time and time because they appreciate the luxury, sophistication and safety of our islands and now, with Porter Airlines’ new service, it seems that more than ever our Canadian friends can trade the white winter snow for our white sandy beaches.”
Eghtedar Manouchehri, vice president of airport operations at Porter Airlines, said, “Now, for the first time in Porter’s history, we are spreading our wings and we are moving beyond our traditional Canadian and US markets and we’re extremely proud to be the first North American airline to fly the state-of-the-art and the very quiet E195-E2 from Embraer. Porter’s been flying since 2006 and with our new E2 fleet, we’re challenging the definition of what it means to travel in economy air travel.”
The planes feature a 132-seat, all-economy configuration with no middle seats, complimentary beer and wine, snacks and free high-speed Wi-Fi.
Rosa Harris, tourism director, said that the initial meeting with Porter Airlines had taken place back February 2023 in an aviation conference in Chicago which, after a lot of discussions, resulted in the new routes.
“Canada is one of our established secondary markets,” she said, “It is our strongest performer, almost recovering, at 95%, from our best year ever of 2019. No other source market has made it that close to full recovery. Six months out of 2024 the Canadian visitation set records in June, July, August, October, November and December.
“We’ve had a long relationship with Canada since the 1980s and today is Porter’s day … and we’re exceptionally proud that Ottawa was added to our new destinations, because it helps us expand our network.”
Officials will be back at the Owen Roberts International Airport on Saturday, 20 Dec. to welcome Delta Air Lines’ new nonstop services from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Grand Cayman, which both launch that day.
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Mrs. Harris, “we’ve had a long relationship with Canada since the 1980s…”. With utmost respect, may I correct and clarify that.
Cayman’s tourism relationship with Canada date back to the early-mid 1960s, twenty years earlier than you mentioned.
Pacific Western Airlines started charter services from Vancouver with DC-6 aircraft in 1964 (they hopped through the US). They were the first and to my knowledge the only airline which ever brought a B707 here (on a one-off promotional flight in 1967 or ’68). Our airport wasn’t equipped to accommodate full commercial operation of the B707.
The Canadian tourist market started and promoted by those PWA charters, fostered developments like the West Indian Club, Victoria House (co-op ownership properties which pre-dated local condominium laws, and probably led to same). Additionally, many Canadians settled here.
Mrs. Harris, no offense or “schooling” meant but this info can now be added to DoT archives.
In any event, congratulations on the work to continue to foster tourism.