The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) is pleased to announce a new winter air service out of the United States, starting in Dec. 2018.

The new American Airlines service will leave Miami, Florida (MIA) at 7:15 p.m. daily, beginning Dec. 19, with the return flight departing Hewanorra International Airport (UVF) at 8: 30 a.m, starting Dec. 20. This will allow travelers greater flexibility, with the added option of an evening flight into Saint Lucia from the United States, and an early morning flight to the US from the island.

Executive Chairperson of the SLTA, Agnes Francis, said “The SLTA welcomes this news as the US is a major source market for Saint Lucia and we have been fraught with airlift challenges. One of the greatest impediments to growth in market share is insufficient airlift, especially during the peak winter demand, and the SLTA is confident that the introduction of this new service, especially its timing, will make the island more accessible and translate into more tourism business for the island.”

The SLTA is committing even more resources to the cities behind the Miami gateway to ensure that the new nightly service will perform optimally.

“We will be doing all we can to keep this service going beyond the winter peak period, so we will allocate additional resources to the cities that feed the Miami gateway in order to attract maximum attention,” said Francis.

The new American Airlines service out of Miami will supplement the existing airlift into the island. Already, American Airlines operates a daily early morning flight from Miami and a weekend service from Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte service will be expanded into a daily service starting in June 2018.

In addition, Jetblue and Delta operate daily airline services into Saint Lucia from New York City and Atlanta, Georgia, respectively. There is also a weekly direct flight from Newark, New Jersey operated by United Airlines.

Advanced bookings for the new American Airlines flight out of Miami, Florida will open on May 15.