Caribbean Sun Expanding Itinerary in the Region
The "raison d´etre" of the billionaire-backed Caribbean Sun Airlines and Caribbean Star Airlines is to stimulate economic development opportunities for Caribbean people living in the region, said airline President Yolanda Suarez.
She addressed media and travel and tourism officials during inaugural activities for Caribbean Sun´s maiden flight from San Juan to Kingstown, the capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines last week.
Suarez, who is the Chief of Staff of the Stanford Financial Group, owned by Texan billionaire R. Allen Stanford, said her chairman´s vision is for a Caribbean which achieves first class economic development for its people, while maintaining the beauty and the distinction that each of these islands have.
Caribbean Star and Caribbean Sun started in what has been probably one of the worst eras of the airline industry, Suarez admitted, but her chairman believes in efficient, seamless, quality air transportation in the region.
Rene Baptiste, Vincentian Minister of Tourism and Culture, welcomed the service, given the challenges facing Caribbean tourism over the past several years, which included 9/11, SARS, the Iraq War and other challenges in her own nation.
The new service fills the void created when American Eagle withdrew service from the mainland. In spite of this, officials registered a record 290,000 passengers in and out of E.T. Joshua Airport last year. It has also started operating when Air Jamaica has been forced to temporarily suspend its flights to all its Eastern Caribbean destinations.
Caribbean Sun Airlines (based in San Juan) and its sister airline, Caribbean Star Airlines (an inter-island carrier), serve 18 Caribbean destinations.
