Continental Drops Barbados, U.S. Schedule
Barbados tourism officials have denied allegations that the agency has been paying Continental Airlines to continue its air service to the island. The airline announced last week that it will be dropping its weekly connection from New Jersey to Bridgetown after just two years on the route.
The announcement came after the service between Newark and Barbados was cut over the past six months to just one weekly flight. The airline had initially maintained a four flight weekly schedule with support from the local tourism agency which spent at least $2 million marketing the service and destination. The communiqué from the airline said the decision was jointly agreed between Continental and the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA).
The reasons being given for the dramatic move range from a mix of declining load factors and high-energy costs, to a reduction in the number of flights to Barbados and a code share arrangement between Continental and Delta Airlines.
“It was a mutual decision made by both Continental and the BTA after extensive discussions on the question of what next for the flight,” explained Bill Silvermintz, the authority´s North American director. “It just did not make financial sense for us to be spending quite a lot of marketing dollars behind a service that went from four times-a-week to three and then to once-a-week, making it basically a charter flight.”
Mr. Silvermintz told the local reporters that after spending years trying to woo Continental to Barbados and pledging to spend almost $3 million to market the service during the first three years, the BTA had convinced the Texas-based carrier to introduce a four-times-a-week service out of Newark.
“As part of the arrangement Barbados did not subsidize the service, but it agreed to finance a marketing campaign to promote the service,” said Mr. Silvermintz.
