KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — The St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority (SVGTA) says American Airlines will begin serving by year’s end its new destination at the Argyle International Airport (AIA) in St Vincent and the Grenadines.  

On Wednesday, SVGTA said American Airlines announced St Vincent and the Grenadines as “one of the destinations to which its customers will have new options to escape the cold with more seasonal and year-round flights”.  

“A release issued by the airline states that ‘American is the first US carrier to serve St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD) with the introduction of year-round Saturday service from MIA (Miami International Airport),’” SVGTA in a statement.

SVGTA said the year-round service will operate on an Airbus A319 every Saturday, commencing December 22, 2018.

The tickets will go on sale on May 14, 2018.

“To have direct service out of Miami is a game changer for the country,” said Glen Beache, SVGTA chief executive officer. “This service will make it so much easier for visitors, including the Diaspora to vacation in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Miami, being one of the main hubs for connections in the USA, will be an excellent gateway for visitors from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and even the United Kingdom to access the beauty that is St Vincent and the Grenadines”.  

Beache said that in 2017, the North American market accounted for 42 per cent of stay-over visitors to St Vincent and the Grenadines.

SVGTA said the American Airline scheduled non-stop service from Miami “gives visitors and Vincentians another option to travel directly to and from the destination.”

Currently, Caribbean Airlines operates a weekly non-stop scheduled service from JFK International in New York, and Air Canada Rouge a weekly non-stop scheduled Autumn/Winter service from Pearson International, Canada.

There is also a chartered Sunwing service currently being operated from Pearson International for the Spring/Summer period, SVGTA said.

It said St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), a collection of 32 islands and cays, “boasts the best of what the authentic Caribbean is renowned for.”

 The Grenadines, which stretch 45 miles south from the main island of St Vincent, include eight inhabited islands: Young Island, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Union Island, Palm Island and Petit St Vincent (PSV).

SVGTA said the Tobago Cays, home of the country’s national marine park, is “a horseshoe-shaped reef that shields five deserted islets and is known to have some of the best sailing waters in the world.”