American Airlines suspends flight services from Miami to Grand Bahama

Bahamas: American Airlines has decided to suspend its flight services from Miami to Grand Bahama between 4^th September to 6th October 2024. This cancellation of the flight services will not only affect Grand Bahama but the flights to Eleuthera and Abaco will also be suspended due to it.

While shedding light on this suspension, the International Communication Spokesperson of American Airlines, Laura Masvidal stated that this decision has been taken in order to evaluate their capacity growth plans for 2024. She also expressed the commitment of the American Airlines towards the Bahamas operation and stated that they are currently offering more than 20 flights to six destinations in the country.

She also mentioned the inbound flights which would resume on 7^th October and have no plans to make any changes to them.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, Chester Cooper also shared his views on this suspension and stated that the decision undertaken by the Airlines is not expected to put any dent in airlift sector. He asserted that Bahamas Air will expand its capacity on its Freeport to Ft. Lauderdale route in order to ensure continued airlift into the Island from the Florida market.

While mentioning about the resuming of the services, he stated that the airline will operate daily flights. After that, they will ramp up the Miami-Freeport offerings to twice-daily service in November, which will prove to be a huge boost for the tourism sector. He asserted that the Airline will also offer a Saturday service between Charlotte and Freeport.

Minister Cooper also shed light on the services offered by Western Air and stated that travellers can look forward to this new service in late August which will connect Fort Lauderdale and Freeport. He added that this new route will play a key role in meeting the increasing demand for travel to South Florida by both local residents and visitors.

The Chief Executive Officer of Grand Bahama Shipyard, Dave Skentelbery also emphasised the impact that they will face due to the suspension of the flights. He stated that the suspension may raise concerns for both existing and potential customers, especially those who are already facing challenges with the availability of airlift.