ST JAMES, Jamaica — Executive director at Jamaica Vacations (JAMVAC), Joy Roberts says the recent commencement of twice-weekly flights by Eurowings Discover from Frankfurt, Germany into the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, augurs well for the island’s tourism sector. 

“We are looking good with this latest development. We are looking forward to Europe. It is big, it is looking good for the winter, thanks to the hard work of the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) regional director in Continental Europe, Gregory Shervington, who executed this agreement. We are really excited to have Eurowings with us”, Roberts remarked.   

She also highlighted that with its great reach, Eurowings Discover’s position across central Europe, will only serve as greater access for passengers to come into Jamaica from other territories other than Germany. “Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa family, which has really good connections, so we are looking not just to Germany, but the area of central Europe” she argued.  

“This was just the result of some hard work by the team. We see this as the final culmination of years of work. We approached Rupert Kraus, who is the key person in planning strategy for Eurowings Discover and it just shows you how synergies work”, Shervington remarked. 

Eurowings Discover flew the first batch of passengers and crew —211 in total— on an inaugural flight from Frankfurt into the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay recently, of what was the first of two weekly flights (Wednesdays and Saturdays) that the airline will operate between now and next April out of continental Europe.

The move is expected to provide over 15,000 airline seats into Jamaica over the course of the period.  

Currently, Eurowings provides the only such direct flight out of that region into Jamaica.

Kraus affirmed that Eurowings Discover believes that Jamaica is very important in their plans going forward. 

 “We had our first talks five years ago and it slowly developed and now we’ve come to Montego Bay and we believe it’s an important market for German tourists and for us to put in on our portfolio,” said Kraus. 

Eurowings Discover’s entry into the Jamaican tourism space has come as great news to the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA). Its area chair for the Montego Bay chapter, Nadeen Spence, could not suppress her joy on the occasion of the arrival of the inaugural flight.

“I am just so ecstatic to be here. Germany is one of my favourite places and the fact that they are opening up now, I am just so elated about this. I am happy that this is happening. It only adds to our product and to just enlarge us worldwide,” she expressed.    

Meanwhile, deputy mayor of Montego Bay, Richard Vernon, was elated to welcome the passengers and the Eurowings family to the tourism capital. “We are ecstatic and we are always welcoming to our visitors because we are the capital of tourism in Jamaica. We want to ensure that we keep our visitors safe as we even make the resilient corridor more resilient,” Vernon remarked.