The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A US aviation operator is planning to launch private charter seaplane flights from south Florida to Harbour Island in early 2024 to meet growing demand for the latter location.

Katherine Meservier, Tropic Ocean Airways’ director of marketing and communications, yesterday told Tribune Business the company is working with all Harbour Island hotels to ensure there is sustained demand for the services it plans to offer.

“Most likely our first flight will be for early 2024 just because we’ve been working with the Government to expand our services,” she said. “And once we do officially set the date and go to market it, we want to make sure that we have enough time for people to book it and ensure that they know about the services before we decide that we’re going to officially start the scheduled flights.

“We don’t want to launch the flights and have nobody on board. We’re still working with everybody out on the island as everything opens up. From what we’ve gathered from the resorts that are currently on Harbour Island is that there’s a demand to go out there, and they don’t want to go in a water taxi they and want to make everything as efficient as possible.

“Currently, with this launching of our services, we’re just trying to get the word out at the moment.” Airlift to the Family Islands has been vital to developing their connectivity to major tourism source markets. Private charters such as Tropic Ocean Airways are a vital component in this effort.

Ms Meservier added: “The flight to Harbour Island is important because anyone who is travelling out to that particular area, historically, it’s been a little bit more difficult. With direct flights from West Palm Beach, or you can go from Fort Lauderdale and Miami, it just creates an easier time for you to get to the island.

“Time is money as we all know, and being able to allow those direct flights allows everybody to maximise the capability of their vacation.” Once Tropic Ocean Airways gets the official go-ahead from the Government it will formally set a date to launch services to Harbour Island.