It would seem as if competition for the skies will be a little more open now with the coming on stream of yet another airline, adding to the two that now offer air services in the TCI.
It has been reported that the newly incorporated Sky Cruise Airlines has received its license to operate in and from the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The oldest operation is currently Air Turks and Caicos (ATC), which is headed by Lyndon Gardiner who bought out the routes of the then Sky King Airlines, formerly owned by Haitian national Harold Charles.
The second airline is Caicos Express, which is owned and operated by two partners Fred Registre and Belonger Richie Arthur, says he is frustrated with the perception in TCI that there is a monopoly for interisland travel.
Caicos Express Airways was approved to fly passengers between Providenciales and Grand Turk and begun its schedule service Dec. 5 just in time for the busy Christmas holiday.
The carrier, which already provided service to Salt Cay, is reportedly flying its nine-seat Cessnas four times a day, seven days a week to the capital island, leaving Provo at 7:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Fares are expected to be $170 walk up and $160 three days in advance, said Caicos Express owner Richardson Arthur.
The new Skycruise Airways expects to provide daily interisland service to Grand Turk, Providenciales, North Caicos and South Caicos, and service three times a week to Salt Cay, using a 19-seat Twin Otter aircraft for most flights.
On some busier flights between Grand Turk and Providenciales, Skycruise expects to use a 30-seat Jetstream 41 twin-propeller plane, a 50-seat CRJ-200 jet or a 72-seat CRJ-700 jet. Those same aircraft would be used for international service to Ft. Lauderdale, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Bahamas and Antigua.
Both Caicos Express and Air Turks and Caicos have objected to Skycruises proposal, saying the country is too small for a third local airline.
The man behind the new airline Sky Cruise airline is former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) Shaun Malcolm, who had come under
criticism, with one of his competitors saying he knows nothing about planes or the airline to run such a business. Allegedly, Malcolm is, only a front, with other Turks and Caicos island belongers and foreign interests playing a major part in the operational plans and finances of the airline.
