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News : Ministry of Tourism Updates Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


Bahamas Tourism & Industry Partners Pursue New Airlift at Routes Americas
By Tyrone G. Sawyer, MOT
Feb 16, 2015 - 7:24:08 PM

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Pictured with United Airlines Network Planning executives Darren Scott (holding sign) and Andrew Russin, Analyst, Domestic Planning (to his right) are: (left to right) Faye Cash, Senior Analyst – Airlift, Ministry of Tourism; Jan Knowles, Vice President – Marketing, NAD; Tyrone Sawyer, Senior Director – Airlift, Ministry of Tourism; Vaughn Roberts, Senior Vice President – Finance & Corporate Affairs, BahaMar; and Fred Lounsberry, CEO – Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board.

Nassau, Bahamas - The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism along with its Industry partners pursued new airlift opportunities at the 2015 Routes Americas conference in Denver, Colorado. Routes Americas is an annual regional forum where countries, airports and airlines come together and meet in high speed, strategic, 20-minute sessions over a three-day period.

Participating in Routes Americas 2015 were Tyrone Sawyer, Senior Director –Airlift Development and Faye Cash, Senior Analyst –Airlift Development at the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; Vaughn Roberts, Senior Vice President – Finance & Corporate Affairs at Baha Mar; Fred Lounsberry, CEO and Consultants Bob Coggin and Doug Blissit of the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board; and Jan Knowles, Vice President of Marketing at Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD).

A key objective of Ministry of Tourism/Industry participants in Routes Americas was to highlight the recently announced developments at BahaMar. Vaughn Roberts confirmed to airline partners that BahaMar will open 1,000 new rooms on March 27th, 2015. He also confirmed that the 1,000 new rooms have already been put “on sale” for individual and group bookings through BahaMar’s web site, through the sales and distribution channels of the BahaMar Resort & Casino, Grand Hyatt, SLS Lux and Rosewood sales teams; and through other sales and distribution channels. Vaughn shared with airline partners details of BahaMar’s new, ground-breaking advertising/PR campaign designed to create a groundswell of consumer awareness and increase passengers on their flights into Nassau and Paradise Island.

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Vaughn Roberts, Senior Vice President – Finance & Corporate Affairs at BahaMar (right) shares with Mark Vanette, Manager – Network Planning at AA along with colleagues, Tim Quijada, Senior Analyst, Latin Planning (right); and Jataveda DasJupta, Senior Analyst, Latin Planning (left) at the 2015 Routes Americas conference in Denver. Pictured (back to camera) is Tyrone Sawyer, Senior Director – Airlift Development, Ministry of Tourism.

This was welcome news to airline partners serving Nassau and Paradise Island. There was much more “at stake” than a handshake and a smile. Both Bahamas tourism planners and airlines serving The Bahamas find themselves seeking to achieve a good balance of air seats to fill all available rooms, as new rooms come online. And today, the challenge to achieve balance in airlift is even greater. Due to more mergers, there has been a greater focus placed by airlines upon cost-cutting and in reducing the size of their fleets. This has led to not more, but less total air seat capacity. As a result, there is much more pressure on airline planners to fly routes where they could achieve the highest possible level of profit.

Despite this, there are growth opportunities to be found. The Ministry of Tourism Airlift team met with a wide variety of airline partners to bring them up-to-date the many new and exciting developments taking place in Grand Bahama, Abaco, Bimini, Eleuthera, San Salvador, the Exumas and other Out Island destinations which would give rise to the need for additional airlift in the future.

“Routes conferences,” said Tyrone Sawyer, Ministry of Tourism Senior Director – Airlift Development, “also provided the opportunity to discuss new route development opportunities with airlines not presently serving The Bahamas; and we were able to accomplish this.”


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