American Airlines will be cancelling its direct flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Providenciales in April.
Starting April 3, travelers to the Turks and Caicos Islands will only be able to fly direct from JFK with JetBlue airlines, which began its direct service to Providenciales last year.
“We continue to operate two daily flights from Miami and one flight one time per week from Dallas-Fort Worth,” said American Airlines Director of Corporate Communications Martha Pantín.
The news comes at a time when arrivals to the destination are at an all-time high. Visitor arrivals were up 12.3 percent in 2011 reaching, 1,009,720 visitors for the year. While the majority were cruise ship arrivals, the month of December saw a 23-percent increase in stay-over visitors arriving by air.
The Tourist Board revealed this month that a whopping 354,223 visitors hit the beaches of the TCI, an increase of 26 percent over 2010 and a record number for the country.
The United States continues to be the major source market for the destination, with Canada in second place. The Tourist Board said it expects the Canadian market to grow even more in 2012 with the addition of the new in-season flight from Halifax.
Air Canada landed its first direct flight from Halifax on Feb. 16 at 5:05 p.m. Air Canada’s service from Halifax (YHZ), the largest city in Atlantic Canada, will be weekly using A319 aircraft. The flights will operate seasonally until April 26.
