The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business 
Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

DESCRIBING traffic on Western Air’s recently introduced Havana route as a “mixed bag”, the airline’s director of operations yesterday told Tribune Business that advanced reservations indicate it will be “fully booked” by late December.

“Obviously now is not peak season, so we expect the traffic to pick up in the beginning of December. It’s seen pretty low passenger figures so far. We have had some flights fully booked, and we have had to cancel some flights because we didn’t have sufficient reservations. We’re hoping it’s going to improve by the first to second week of December,” said Captain Wolf Seyfret.

Western Air launched its three flights weekly Nassau/Havana route service in early October, with the hope of capitalising on surplus demand. The service is operated with a 33-seat SAB340 aircraft.

“The peaks have been where we had 100 per cent loads factors. We had quite a few flights with 10-20 per cent load factors. We’re pretty confident over our advanced reservations that, for sure, the latter part of December is going to be fully booked,” said Captain Seyfret.

Assessing the domestic market, Captian Seyfret noted that, too, has been a mixed bag.

He added that the carrier’s Bimini route has seen strong loads. “Bimini is definitely quite strong. Bimini has been going strong obviously as a result of the development that’s ongoing. The Freeport route has held its own. The Andros route has been performing as expected, not very high passenger figures,” Captain Seyfret said.