BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (SKNIS) – On Sunday, March 12, 2023, authorities in St. Kitts rolled out the red carpet as InterCaribbean Airways made its inaugural flight to the RLB International Airport.
Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew was among those on hand at the airport to officially welcome the arrival of the flight.
Delivering remarks during a welcoming ceremony at the KayanJet Private Terminal, Prime Minister Dr. Drew hailed the addition of this new service to St. Kitts, noting the significance of intra-regional travel to the destination.
“What we need to recognize is that our second largest pool of visitors to St. Kitts and Nevis is from the Caribbean itself and we must never underestimate it. Those are our Caribbean brothers and sisters who travel to St. Kitts and Nevis very frequently to visit … and also there are those who use other countries within the Caribbean as a stop to enter St. Kitts and Nevis, therefore, if we don’t have intra-regional travel our tourism industry would suffer tremendously,” Prime Minister Drew said.
The Prime Minister said this is one of the reasons why his administration, shortly after assuming office, took the very critical decisions to remove certain COVID-19 protocols that greatly hindered the rebound of the tourism sector.
“For me that says a lot. It says that where there is a vision and where there is effort, much can be achieved. Bringing InterCaribbean into St. Kitts and Nevis would boost our economy. It would not only boost our economy, but it will also bring our people closer together,” Dr. Drew added.
In recent months, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister have been one of the champions for intra-regional travel. More recently, it was an integral part of Prime Minister Drew’s address delivered at the opening session of the Forty-Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM last month.
“I want to say that we are committed to it; we are willing to work with our OECS [Organization of Eastern Caribbean States] partners and we have had meetings dealing specifically with intra-regional travel,” said the Prime Minister.
InterCaribbean Airways will service St. Kitts from the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados three times weekly on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.