The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net THERE is no "pressing need" for new airlift to the Bahamas in the next three to six months, according to tourism director-general David Johnson, who told Tribune Business that capacity this winter season was in balance with demand. Speaking after Delta's inaugural flight between New York's LaGuardia airport and Nassau, Mr Johnson said: "Today there is no pressing need for new airlift to this destination in the next three to six months. Capacity this winter is in balance with demand. "You never want to get them out of sync because what you do is you have no room and someone is flying empty seats. We have to be vary careful. We have been working with our partners to balance our needs with the demand, and not have excessive capacity because that hurts everybody." Addressing the recent Routes Americas conference, Mr Johnson told Tribune Business: "What we were able to achieve with a number of carriers was a very good understanding of the potential for us to open new gateways, such as Chicago and Houston. "Some of the players emerging that will be bigger airlines servicing this destination going forward as we develop routes with them are Southwest AirlinesAirTran and United. "We had very serious discussions with United regarding expanding their services. They currently offer Houston seasonal and Newark year-round. They are expanding Houston significantly, and they are looking to add the mid-west. "Several South American carriers we spoke to in a preliminary way. Our first objective is to really solidify the Copa service and see how we add to that with players from Brazil. In particular, we spoke to Gol Airlines, and agreed on a path to get them involved in looking at services from Brazil to Venezuela." The fifth annual Routes Americas conference, the top airline industry seminar, which was held at the Atlantis resort, brought together key players in the airline and airport industry responsible for developing new routes to, from and within the Americas. Mr Johnson said Bahamasair was on track to begin its full scheduled service between Freeport and five US cities on March 15. Vision Airlines began flights to Grand Bahama last November 11, providing direct non-stop service from five US cities. Its competitive low fares were expected to bring an additional 100,000 seats annually to Grand Bahama in its first phase of operations. The carrier, however, did not perform up to expectations. Bahamasair will now service those routes under a new cost formula that will reduce air fares to Grand Bahama by 50 per cent, and travel time by 75 per cent.