Cayman Airways confirms new Los Angeles “game changing” route | Loop Cayman Islands

Black Immigrant Daily News

Cayman Islands Minister of Tourism Kenneth Bryan has announced a new Cayman Airways (CAL) non stop service to Los Angeles LAX airport beginning November 5 and to be offered once a week, initially, which could be ramped up to three flights per week according to the airline. The service will be around 5 and a half hours from LAX to Owen Roberts Airport which cuts the travel time by at least half, as compared to the multiple connections that are currently required.

The service will depart LAX on Sunday mornings at 7am and arrive at GCM at 3:30pm local time. The departure from GCM will be at 3:45pm on Saturdays and arrive at LAX at 7pm local time.

Mr Bryan said in a Thursday press briefing that the new service would provide both tourism and business benefits and that it is a lucrative opportunity given the country’s ongoing gradual post-COVID tourism recovery. It would also diversify and expand Cayman’s tourism product.

Mr Bryan said that the new route “will be a game changer for our destination” allowing West Coast routes as well as Asia and Australia- a whole new segment of travelers- to have easier access to Cayman.

Cayman Airways will be the only Caribbean airline to provide direct access to LAX, one of the top five busiest airports in the world and is the entertainment hub of the United States, which will help to accelerate Cayman’s strategic relationships within the global film industry that are currently in process.

Fabian Whorms, President and Chief Executive Officer of CAL, spoke of the economic and job creation value of the new route, suggesting that it could very conservatively drive an estimated $16 million in economic impact to the Cayman Islands per year.

Mr Whorms indicated that this decision was part of the strategy for the airline to serve as an economic lever or accelerator for the Cayman Islands.

According to Mr Whorms, with CAL’s new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with 160 seats and its long range, environmentally friendly fuel efficiency, the airline has had the opportunity to become more strategic in its objectives and routes such as LAX were exactly what the airline had in mind when the aircraft was purchased. Distant locations that are under-served are on the prospects for CAL, according to Mr Whorms.

Mr Whorms advised that this will be the longest mission that a Cayman Airways fleet has ever taken. At this time, internet connectivity will not be provided but there will be online entertainment with an assortment of inflight content including videos and games and CAL is currently pursuing the inclusion of local content through the “Sir Turtle entertainment system.”

Loop Cayman previously announced, in a June 7 article, that on May 27 2022, CAL applied to the US Department Of Transportation for access to “one or more” West Coast airports. The application was made under the provisions of the 2020 US-UK Open Skies Agreement which serves as the basis of United States-United Kingdom air services relations.

The US-UK Open Skies Agreement, a bilateral “Open Skies” Air Transport Agreement, signed in November 2020, became necessary as a replacement for the US-EU Open Skies Agreement after the UK withdrew from the EU. It includes all the essential elements of Open Skies, such as unrestricted capacity and frequency, open routes, code-sharing opportunities, a liberal charter regime, and market-determined pricing. It also includes the UK’s overseas territories and crown dependencies under all of the terms of the agreement.

Prior to the US-UK Open Skies Agreement, overseas territories and crown dependencies were not included in the US-EU Agreement and were subject to the more restrictive Bermuda 2 agreement, widely regarded as an agreement that was contrary to the principle of open skies as per the continuing liberalization of the legal framework governing the air transport industry in various parts of the world.

Cayman Airways currently offers non-stop flights to Kingston, Havana, La Ceiba, Tampa, Miami, New York and Denver and boasts the Caribbean’s newest jet fleet, with the brand-new state-of-the-art Boeing 737-8 jet aircraft, which offers travelers extra inflight storage space, roomier cabins, more seats in Business Class, and over 30 per cent more seats overall than the airline’s previous jet fleet.

Mr Bryan referred to the new development as a proud moment for Cayman Airways.

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