Dominica welcomed its first direct flight from the United States on Wednesday when American Airlines landed at Douglas Charles airport on the island’s north-east coast, four hours after taking off from Miami.
In the past, air access to the remote ‘Nature Island’ was limited to neighbouring islands on small planes or from Puerto Rico on turboprops operated by American Eagle and later by Envoy Air, Seaborne and Silver Airways.
The Embraer aircraft carried 62 passengers in coach and seven in business class, in "an almost sold out flight," according to Colin Piper, the island's director of tourism. The turnaround flight, departing an hour later for Miami, also had few empty seats. The year-round service will expand from twice-weekly to three times a week on 10 January.
“This is a very big deal for us. We already have dive groups booked on flights from Miami in January and February and we're expecting that the huge diaspora market in the US will generate a lot of traffic as well,” Piper said, adding that many island residents had booked flights to Miami for shopping trips prior to the Christmas holidays.
"December looks like it will have 90 percent load factors in both directions," he said.
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