New CAL Routes

by Brian Buckley and Alan Markoff

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

The news that Cayman Airways hopes to expand its current routes to the Central American has been greeted with excitement by travel agents and travelers. 

Cayman Airways indicated last week that it is interested in beginning service to Honduras, Costa Rica Panama and possibly Belize by the end of the year.

Cayman Tours & Travel owner Katherine Coxe expressed delight at the possiblity. “I think these routes would definitely work,” she said. “Costa Rica is a great vacation destination. Panama has great shopping and we have many Hondurans on the Island who would love to take a Cayman Airways jet home as opposed to what’s available now.

“Panama has many locations where everything is sold duty-free. A lot of Caymanians, Jamaicans, and businessmen and women go there quite a bit,” Mrs Coxe added.

The General Manager of Cayman Travel Services, Mindy Scott- Hennings, thought the Honduras route had the greatest chance for success. She thought Costa Rica could work “not for everyday traffic, but might work well on holidays.” 

Concerning Panama, Mrs Scott-Hennings said: “I’m not sure the average leisure customer would use this flight. But for business people hoping to connect onto South America, Panama is a great connecting point.”

The simple creation of new routes and destinations was excitement in itself to Ellen Schwartz, Managing Director of Travel Pros. “Any time there’s new flights with exciting destinations we get lots of calls. Honduras could work all the time and the others could surely work on a seasonal basis,” she said. “It’s always nice for people to have options. Even if there isn’t a market just yet for these routes, we’re more than willing to create one.”

The mother and daughter team at Adventure Travel, Gail DuQuesnay and Rebecca Cahajla, spoke with both anticipation and hesitation. Ms Cahalja said: “This is good news,” Ms Cahalja said. “Many travellers need US visas to go through Miami. Not going to Miami could save someone $400.”

Her mom Ms DuQuesnay added, “This could work, but it depends on how they set it up. The three destinations are so close together that maybe they could combine flights. For example, they could maybe go Cayman-Panama-Honduras and back.”

Rick Blake, Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Cayman Airways said that the details of the routes had yet to be finalised, and that multiple stops – or a triangle route - on the flights was possible. “We’re still in the early stages of planning,” he said, “but when a route is in its development stages, it is sometimes ideal to do it as a triangle.”

According to Mr Blake, more feasible triangle routes, because of geography, would have one route from Cayman to San Juan, Costa Rica and Panama City, with a possible separate route going to Belize and Honduras.

Mr Blake indicated that flying to Central America was the next logical step in the airline’s regional expansion, and that Panama City in particular could benefit both the airline and the Cayman Islands. “Panama is a gateway to South America, and it could open up many tourism opportunities,” he said. 

The news of these possible routes found was music to the ears of Demián Sobrarío. Having just resettled to the Cayman Islands from Costa Rica, Mr Sobrarío relived his recent journey to Grand Cayman.

“When I first was planning my trip to come to Grand Cayman, I thought about going through Miami. Just to get an appointment with the United States Embassy for the visa to enter the Miami Airport takes a month-and-half, and it is a hundred dollars.

“If Cayman Airways does go to Costa Rica it will be cheaper, safer, faster, and better,” he said “I came to Grand Cayman by flying from Costa Rica to Panama to Havana to Grand Cayman. It was very expensive for me. Cayman Airways could make life very easy for me.”

Mr Blake, however, said the airline was interested in more than just making it easier for Central American residents to come to Cayman. “We hope that the routes will generate two-way traffic flow, not just one-way.”

Although the new Cayman Airways routes are not certain, Mr Blake remained confident. “I’d like to think that they will happen,” he said, “if not by the end of the year, then in the early part of next year.”

Mr Blake explained that, unlike the airline’s recently announced new route to Boston, where it already had an agreement to fly to the United States, the Central American routes would requite bi-lateral agreements that the UK would have to approve. “We have no current agreements with these countries, so there’s more of a process involved in getting these routes,” he said.

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