Cayman Airways’ New York route has bookings to date showing a load factor of 62 per cent to 65 per cent, with an increase anticipated.
The national flag carrier announced at the inaugural ceremony of the new route Saturday that come 9 November, flights between the Big Apple and Grand Cayman will increase to four times weekly, and on 9 February next year, if the booking trend continues, this will increase to five times per week.
A load factor is a calculation of revenue-producing seats divided by all the seats on the plane.
The addition of direct, non-stop air service to JFK International airport in New York emphasises the strategic importance of the North East for the Cayman Islands, said the Minister of Tourism Charles Clifford.
‘Originally identified as a top priority by the private sector, the launch of this new route is a symbol of confidence in the potential business and tourism opportunities between New York and the Cayman Islands.’
He said the North East corridor has been the source of most of Cayman’s tourist arrivals out of the US during the past seven years.
He said he recognises the unprecedented level of cooperation between the private sector, Cayman Airways and the Department of Tourism.
‘It is this level of co-operation that differentiates the service to New York City from the service, which we offered to that gateway many years ago,’ he said.
The private sector participated in pre-launch activities and joined forces on this initiative with Cayman Airways, he said.
President of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association Karie Bergstrom called the launch a momentous occasion.
She said CITA has worked tirelessly trying to convince someone how important a direct route is for the tourism industry. She thanked the Ministry of Tourism, Department of Tourism and Cayman Airways for their efforts.
Captain Chris McTaggart was Captain and Chief Pilot on the inaugural north-bound flight to New York, which left Grand Cayman on Saturday, with senior flight attendant Andrea Wynn on board. Mr. Clifford, along with senior officials, civil servants and invited guests visited New York to enjoy its offerings. The flight returned to Cayman Monday morning.
The inaugural south-bound flight from New York Sunday morning had 87 paying passengers, eight of whom filled up first class. The capacity is 114 seats in economy.
At the launch, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cayman Airways Ms Angelyn Hernandez said that through marketing, information about the new route is available and easily accessible in the New York area.
‘To this end the Department of Tourism is advertising in the print media as well as on television. Cayman Airways has purchased telephone kiosk and poster space in railroad stations where there are key outlets in the affluent neighbourhood target markets of Fairview, Connecticut, and Westchester County, New York.
‘Officials from the Department of Tourism and Cayman Airways as well as industry agencies in the key locations within the catchment areas around New York have been holding receptions and sharing information about this new route.
‘Both the DoT and Cayman Airways continue to aggressively market this route and there are already plans in place for a follow up sales blitz later this year.’
At a marketing presentation in New York on Sunday it was explained how the new route was marketed in the past few months without any incremental funding to support the launch: advertising dollars were pulled from other places in the market in order to market both the destination and the new route together, along with using pre-existing advertising activity in the New York market; Cayman Airways stopped marketing by itself and blended into the whole Cayman Islands marketing package.
VP Commercial John Wrightington commented that although the flight is beginning in summer, an off peak time, because of per capita income in both the Cayman Islands and the New York area a considerable amount of traffic will come out of both destinations.
The schedule has three frequencies, but for the slow season of September, October and early November the route will drop down to two frequencies a week, and as most visitors stay three to four days, the schedule accommodates that, he said.
Mr. Wrightington noted that the airline is now looking at carrying approximately 20 per cent more traffic in the market this summer than they originally anticipated.
He explained that during the summer there are 8,210 seats available for sale on the NY Cayman route and now they are up to 3,300 bookings.
But because bookings increase over time, looking at the current booking curve on a chart they are expecting a 62per cent to 67 per cent load factor, based on probabilities.
‘I think that’s incredible,’ he said, explaining that what was originally forecast was that they would have sold 2,000 seats at this point.
He believes they have stimulated the market because of the non-stop service, pricing and advertising and promotions.
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