Tribune Business Reporter
THE BAHAMAS Celebration ferry/cruiseline has priced Spirit Airlines out of the Grand Bahama travel market, offering fares that amount to even less than the airline's taxes on a ticket, a deputy director-general at the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA) said yesterday.
The lost seats will be replaced by American Airlines and Bahamasair.
David Johnson, who is also in charge of airlift development, said the option to cruise to South Florida in four hours with a large number of free luggage pieces was the selling point for the Bahamas Celebration and the catalyst for the demise of Spirit's airlift into the island.
According to Mr Johnson, Spirit struggled on its Grand Bahama direct from Fort Lauderdale service in the two years it operated. It found the route, which was serviced by a jet, expensive to maintain.
"It was expensive to operate a jet on such a short run and the economics were not going to change," he said.
Spirit also rolled out a controversial deal that required travellers to pay for luggage put in overhead bin,s and it always required passengers to pay for checked luggage.
Mr Johnson said the market for Spirit's Nassau route has not foundered.
Now, American Airlines and Bahamasair have replenished the seats going into Grand Bahama from Florida and have added 200 more.
Mr Johnson also revealed that the Ministry is in talks with American to convince them to further increase their airlift into Grand Bahama, but it has not made a definitive decision on the matter. However, it has increased the frequency of flights into the island compared to 2009.
"They are doing reasonably well, and we were in discussions with them to increase further," said Mr Johnson.
Minister of Tourism, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, said replacing Spirit Airlines with American Airlines also adds the benefit of global connections.
"We will have a much improved service," he said.
