BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis stands to benefit economically from the inclusion of Seaborne Airlines into the local air travel industry.
This was revealed to SKNVibes Business by Mike Ritzi, Director of Business Development at Seaborne Airlines.
Following the official welcoming ceremony of Seaborne Airlines held in the VIP Lounge at the Robert L Bradshaw International Airport on Tuesday (Jan. 21), Ritzi, who spoke exclusively with SKNVibes Business, said that the inclusion would benefit the Federation substantially, especially with the large population base in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“Let us do the Math. Over 2.5 million people just in San Juan; it’s like 3.7 million in Puerto Rico. If you got one percent of those people or a half of a percent, do the math on that and see how many people would be coming to this country. And when they come, there are taxes involved and their buying of food…they will be doing all that. That is going to help the country itself generate more income,” he explained.
Ritzi noted that with his airline joining the opening up of the St. Kitts-Nevis route, it would allow for greater inter-island trade and free movement of skilled workers between the two islands with the airline offering reduced prices to travellers.
“Besides tourism, there are large businesses in San Juan like pharmaceuticals and air conditioning. So a lot of large businesses have skilled labour that a lot of our islands don’t have, like the Antilles that does the generator-type things and huge construction companies. So, if you were able to get them down here and get them here fast so that they don’t have to spend half of a day travelling, they can get here and can start to work faster. And that is going to keep the price down to whoever is going to have these individuals coming here to work. Also, if we keep the price down, it will keep your price down too.”
He stressed that the management team of the airline has done its homework on the American Airline and Seaborne would have no problem in filling the seats of its aircraft, which has a capacity for 34 passengers.
“We know the American Eagle did very well in this market. And because it did well our planes carry half the amount as the ATR, so we should have no problem filling our planes. In an airline business it’s all about putting what’s in the seats. We need to have people in the seats.”
The Director of Business Development noted that they have a market for a lot of young travellers in “their 20s late 20s who aren’t married”, which makes it easier for the St Kitts market to be a frequent place for tourists to bask.
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Richard ‘Ricky ‘Skerritt explained that the country would have to wait to see how successful the business venture is, as the economic impact could not be foreseen in the early stages of the operation.
“It depends on the mix of passengers they bring, but we think that about 80 percent of the passengers they bring are going to be visitors. So for a small airline like this, if you say 80 percent you are looking in the region of 25 of the passengers coming here, assuming it is a full flight. Our statistics say they will spend about six days here and they are going to spend, in addition to their hotel room, in the range of US$100 to US$180 a day,” Minister Skerritt said.
Minister Skerritt noted that the impact of this new venture would be significant for the Federation with the influx of tourists to come on the airline.
