A Rapidly Expanding Regional Carrier Seeks To Link Caribbean Islands

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. April 1, 2014: It’s been a busy past four months for a small airline out of the Turks & Caicos, that has broadened its horizons from a local carrier to a Pan Caribbean one, rapidly expanding much needed regional flights across the Caribbean.

interCaribbean Airways, formerly Air Turks & Caicos, the national airline of The Turks & Caicos Islands, is appearing more and more like the ‘little train that can’ – well in this instance the little plane. The company on Monday, March 31st added some new 20 flight plans in only the first four or so months since its rapid rebrand and expansion.

interCaribbean flies domestically to Grand Turk and South Caicos, in addition to International flights to Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata and Santiago in the Dominican Republic; Cap Haitien and Port Au Prince in Haiti; Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica and Nassau in the Bahamas.

In early January interCaribbean officials announced the commencement of flights from San Juan, Puerto Rico with non-stop flights to Puerto Plata and to Samana in the Dominican Republic and additional flights from Puerto Plata to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands and by January 20th it was  flying from Providenciales (PLS)  to Cap Haitien, Haiti with the blessings of the Haitian ministry of tourism.

By January 17, interCaribbean was connecting Kingston, Jamaica to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic with three  weekly flights and, a 4th non-stop service to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands. Officials also launched services four times a week from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Providenciales.

Operating a fleet of Embraer 120 and Beech 99 aircraft, interCaribbean Airways on Monday, March 31st announced the introduction of new scheduled non-stop air service connecting Kingston to Montego Bay, with 16 weekly flights each way.

These new flights from Montego Bay to Kingston will provide onward flights to Providenciales, Grand Turk, Santo Domingo and San Juan, which officials at the carrier says now make the “connections across the wider Caribbean a reality.”

“Now traveling interCaribbean Airways is convenient, affordable and available to business and leisure travelers with the introduction of these new routes,” executives said earlier this year.

Add to that the fact the introductory domestic fares from Kingston to Montego Bay are available from as little as US$29.00 (plus taxes) one way, for a limited time with the ability to book flights online at www.flyairtc.com and the dream of many Caribbean tourism experts of a regional tourism shot in the arm, could become a reality yet in a sector where beleaguered carrier LIAT has long held the title of regional carrier.

Trevor Sadler, CEO of interCaribbean Airways, said the introduction of these new services and their international connections is the culmination of years of effort by the airline’s Chairman Lyndon Gardiner concerning his work towards an airline that truly connects the Caribbean.

“It is his belief that this connectivity is not just possible, but necessary to support a greater Caribbean economy, and with the support of Jamaica and the business community, we are now about to realize the next step in the growth of the company,” Sadler said Monday.

Air Turks, now interCaribbean, was founded in the 1990s as Interisland Airways as part of Interisland Aviation Services Group by Gardiner.

Gardiner was born on North Caicos in 1967 and after spending the first ten years of his business career in finance, he decided to follow the example of his two older brothers and went to Ft. Lauderdale to attend flight school. He purchased his first plane in 1991 and started providing an informal but popular on-demand air taxi service that he called InterIsland Airways.

In those nearly unregulated days of flying in the Turks and Caicos, he was often called out in the middle of the night to fly medevac flights after having put in a full day. He felt a strong obligation to assist, as a medevac flight flown by his long-time friend, the late Howard Hamilton, saved his own life after a devastating motorcycle accident on Grand Turk that broke his legs.

By 1999 Gardiner had acquired a small fleet and was running a full-fledged charter service. Realizing that his true potential lay in business, not flying, he left the piloting to others and concentrated on growing his fledgling airline.

In 2003 the Turks and Caicos Government started a push toward regional and international development and it seemed that the time had come for the Turks and Caicos to have its own airline.  A scheduled license was applied for and granted, and thus began an ambitious expansion project that involved adding international destinations and acquiring larger and faster aircraft.

Gardiner and his company have come a long way since the 90s. Now interCaribbean is adding new services to Samana, Dominican Republic and San Juan, Puerto Rico on  April 2, 2014 and future expansion plans calls for further development of international routes, including service to St. Maarten.

Wiith interCaribbean and Seaborne Airlines filling a sphere where Red Jet failed to adequately thread, it’s left to be seen how incoming new LIAT CEO, David Evans, will handle the competition

One thing’s for sure, interCaribbean Airways’ future is bright and Gardiner and his carrier are definitely going nowhere else but ‘up, up and away.’