Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has called United Airlines’ new direct flight to Dominica “a huge step forward” for the country.
Last week, the island’s tourism minister announced the once-weekly flights that will connect Newark, New Jersey, to Dominica’s Douglas Charles Airport come 2025.
At a press conference this morning, Skerrit said: “This is a huge step forward and a demonstration of confidence that there is a growing appetite and a growing interest in people wanting to visit Dominica to work, as tourists and also to live and no doubt this is going to enhance the opportunities for all of us in the country especially those in the hotel and hospitality industry.”
The Dominica prime minister hopes that this new move will augment the consumption of goods and services on the island and in turn increase the coffers of the island’s treasury.
The announcement of new flights with the new airline follows major improvements to the runway of the Douglas-Charles airport.
The upgrade works include a 6,351-foot runway extension as well as runway grooving. These improvements are meant to allow for the accommodation of larger aircraft and to reduce cancellation of flights, particularly during inclement weather.
Skerrit said while he had concerns about the cost implications of making these improvements, it’s an important investment for Dominica.
He stated: “It took me some time to eventually approve the funds because we are building an international airport. I was doubtful about spending in excess of $30m to extend the runway and do grooving.
“Ultimately we recognised that it was an important investment; one, to sustain the flights that are coming in that would have eliminated the cancellations because of rain but also there was a very strong indication that we run the benefit of having additional flights to Dominica from new airlines and the moment we completed the extension of the runway; the moment we grooved the entire runway, United said ‘we’ll come’.”
Skerrit called this new development “a very important precursor to the international airport” adding that the country would now need to boost its marketing efforts as it is expected more airlines will be interested in providing direct flights to Dominica.
“Air access is better now in Dominica, and we will continue to work towards having more options,” Skerrit said.