CAL to increase Miami flights, DoT seeks new routes
(CNS): The Cayman Airways management team is planning to add more flights to Miami to meet demand, and the Department of Tourism is mulling new routes to the United States to attract new visitors from Kansas and Texas. As the parliament’s Finance Committee questioned CAL Executive Vice President Finance and Commercial Affairs Paul Tibbetts about the national flag carrier’s operations and finances, he told MPs that the return of the Miami night flight was under review.
He explained it was cut because of the lack of demand in 2022, which meant the remaining flights had been more profitable. However, demand was growing again, he said, and the airline had introduced a second flight last Sunday and would likely add a second flight on Mondays as well.
“We will probably end up keeping the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as a single flight up to Miami,” he said. “But where we have growing demand… we are looking to and have added additional [flights],” he said.
There has been public concern that CAL’s decision to fly to Barbados was impacting the lack of additional flights to Miami. However, Tibbetts said this new route was being treated like a charter, with a revenue guarantee by the Barbados government. He said that this flight was not interfering with the rest of the schedule and that passenger numbers were slightly better than expected.
“But generally, it’s performing in line with expectations, and we are noticing some connections,” he said. “We are watching that and seeing where it goes, but ultimately, it is a decision for [the Barbados Government] to make in terms of whether it’s worth their while to continue the operation or not.”
Meanwhile, responding to a question about new routes for next year, Tourism Director Rosa Harris told the committee that they had done an aviation assessment to look for new business. She said Kansas and Austin were two possibilities for CAL to pursue, and they have handed over the findings to the board. She said the two routes were supported by the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, especially Austin, which is an affluent market.
According to the budget documents, Cayman Airways will receive a total of CI$37 million from the government to run both the Domestic Air Services to the Sister Islands and the Strategic Tourism, Regional and Core Air Services for this two-year budget cycle, in addition to the usual subsidies. The airline will also receive equity injections to cover losses and loans of CI$12.1M in 2024 and $9.M in 2025.
Tibbetts also revealed that the airline is looking at buying new planes to operate CAL Express and is currently going through the procurement process for an additional Twin Otter aircraft for Little Cayman. But the airline is now looking to replace the Saab planes, which are more than 25 years old and are becoming too small for the Cayman Brac route. Tibbets said that the ATR aircraft, which can take off and land on shorter runways, was a potential candidate to replace the Saabs.
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Category: Business, Government Finance, Politics, Transport
385 miles to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum…less than an hour flight for great shopping and entertainmemt and Cancun is a hub.
Kansas??
Pittsburgh would do better. Please…
CIG need sell cayman airways so the management will have free hand to grow the business without any idiot ministers on the board.
One hour and fifteen minute direct flight to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum…
Ignore any suggestions of new routes.
Increase the daily flights to Miami.
Its the closet major international hub yet the majority of current flight times are all in the same narrow time window making it difficult to arrange connections without overnighting.
Put on additional 6am, 8am, 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm flights.
Make it easy to connect elsewhere.
Quick Example for Friday 22nd Dec
Boston – 23 non stop flights
Chicago – 19 non stop flights
Austin – 5 non stop flights
Vegas – 4 non stop flights
LAX – 11 non stop flights
Barbados – 2 non stop flights
See how many flights to Boston? Cayman Airways needs to do nonstop from there.
Why does KX never make a profit?
Seriously? They operate a 22 minute 737-8 jet flight to the Brac and return every morning. They likely lose $25K on that flight everyday 365 days a year.
Not true. The jet does not go to the Brac daily.
because it is run by cig and the civil service….masters of failure and incompetence
That is a good question. If you exclude mismanagement it is most likely tied to the economies of scale. To make a profit the aircraft need to spend a certain amount of hours in the air and Cayman has a small number of aircraft. The Brac rout will always need to be subsidized as well. International fares are set by the big boys that have the advantage of economies of scale.
Some flights such as Barbados are doomed to failure as was the one to the Turks. The ultimate responsibility for determining which destinations are chosen lies with the board not the CIG.
The public heeds your question answered by the board.
Does our airline expect to ever make a profit?
Ya all remember Air Jamaica??
please do bi-monthly…thurs-sunday vegas charter….it will be 100% full each time .
Do Costa Rica!
Nashville & New Orleans & Las Vegas.
Full flights guaranteed.
Questions for the CEO of CAL.
1)Over the last 12 month what percentage of passengers were tourists. Not locals, Not returning residents, not PR, not kids coming back from school, just plain old tourists coming for the week.
2) What is the percentage of total tourists arriving by air?
3) Over the past 12 months what percentage of residents actually paid for their flight.
4) Where is the business case for Barbados?
Kenny must be the down vote
#3 – odd question. Is there a free ticket program for residents that I don’t know about?
Yes
How many free flights a year are given away to assorted cronies? Cutting those out may help with the bottom line.
I’m no expert in the airline business, but given the anonymity afforded by CNS I can pretend to be one just like everyone else.
I am not necessarily smarter than Cayman Airways and Department of Tourism management. Let me rephrase that; my dog is smarter than them, but I shouldn’t know more than them about how to get potential tourist from where they reside to the Cayman Islands.
However, without ever having worked in the field of aviation or tourism, most people know that airlines have “hubs” which are major airports into which they funnel passengers from smaller catchment areas and load them onto bigger more efficient and profitable flights to send them on to the final destination.
Kenny, as Minister for Transportation, might possibly have noticed that the minibuses do NOT go to people’s houses to pick them up. If you want a minibus into town, you go to the nearest bus stop. Yes Kenny, a hub is just like a bus stop.
Now that you understand how a hub works Kenny, you might just see the reason why the Cayman Airways flight from Miami has a high load capacity. Yes Kenny, many other airlines use Miami as a hub, so passengers just get off one airline in Miami and step onto Cayman Airways.
If the Department of Tourism thinks that there is potential for many tourist from Kansas to visit Cayman, then all they have to do is ask the operations management of Cayman Airways where is the nearest hub that can be used as a feeder to bring them to Cayman and have Cayman Airways fly there.
What we do NOT need is a Kennynomics decision, and spending hundreds of thousands of our dollars on an inaugural champagne flight to Bumf*ck Kansas filled with a basket of deplorables better known as Kenny’s “people”.
One the airlines with largest US market share actually avoided the hub and spoke model to become widely successful. So Southwest might agree that you’re no expert in the airline business…
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/southwest-airlines-hubs-destinations-routes-services
Just returned from their new Panama route and with the Cayman Air wisdom the flight arrives to late to connect to the Brac. Who planned that schedule?
The reason for the timing of that flight is to connect with passengers from South America. Apologies to the Brackers, you were just collateral damage in the planning process which scheduled the flight at a time that no airline from any major city in South America could connect with.
You don’t have to take my word for it, just go to any online travel site and try to book a flight from Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio, or any other city of your choice in South America to Panama. If you can find a single flight that arrives in Panama AFTER 7am but BEFORE 4pm then I will send you all my Cayman Airways frequent flyer miles.
You can from Bogota Colombia.
And Santiago Chile.
I was in Santiago a few months ago and had to fly to Miami to get home. If you found a flight from Santiago to Panama that arrives in time to catch Cayman Airways then post it for all to see. Like this:
https://www.expedia.com/Flights-Search?filters=%5B%7B%22numOfStopFilterValue%22%3A%7B%22stopInfo%22%3A%7B%22numberOfStops%22%3A0%2C%22stopFilterOperation%22%3A%22EQUAL%22%7D%7D%7D%5D&leg1=from%3ASantiago%20%28SCL-Arturo%20Merino%20Benitez%29%2Cto%3APanama%20City%20%28PTY-Tocumen%20Intl.%29%2Cdeparture%3A1%2F1%2F2024TANYT&leg2=from%3APanama%20City%20%28PTY-Tocumen%20Intl.%29%2Cto%3ASantiago%20%28SCL-Arturo%20Merino%20Benitez%29%2Cdeparture%3A1%2F2%2F2024TANYT&mode=search&options=carrier%3A%2Ccabinclass%3A%2Cmaxhops%3A1%2Cnopenalty%3AN&passengers=adults%3A1%2Cchildren%3A0%2Cinfantinlap%3AN&trip=roundtrip
9.14am Was there anyone else on it?.
Austin please!
I believe the Saab is singular, they only have one, right?
Also a friend of mine was on the Barbados flight the other day, 30 people, so 20-25% capacity. Its never going to be justified as a route.
2 Saabs
Saabi
Suub
Saabtopodes
When a business is not constrained by having to make a profit, then it can make one foolish business decision after another. The only thing that matters then is that the “manager” gets more money to expand and waste and buy votes. Look forward to more loss making routes and more subsidy.
Chicago would be great if they do that again cayman airways is a great service , everyone from the Midwest ,Illinois ,Wisconsin,Michigan I know miss cayman air out of ORD . They might want to wait until terminal 5 is done
Austin is a great city but a relatively small airport so surely a bigger hub in Texas or US would be better for CAL.
Texas is cayman’s No1 source for visitors so TX makes the most sense for a KX route. But obviously Dallas or Houston makes 100x more sense than Austin for connections etc.
Seasonally….we get a lot from Texas in the summer. But a lot from the Northeast in the winter. This shouldn’t be hard….can they not use all the data they get for visitor arrivals to match to where the bodies are coming from?
JFK in the winter
Dallas in the summer (Houston is well covered by United with a daily flight already)
Smart thinking, but there are many people that like to fly to Cayman that live above NY. We all have to connect. It would be great to have Cayman Air out of Boston!
Nashville.
LA would have been a better flight if the timing was better poised to connect thru and back. It leaves here far to late to be able to get anywhere in the same day and returns FAR TOO early that you have to book a room in a crappy airport hotel.
Wherever they plan to go to next, can they PLEASE consider the connectivity????
San Francisco Bay Area route. 3 airports to choose from. Pick 1. The flights will sell out.
Barbados was a favour to a “friend”. Scrap it Kenny before someone challenges your Foi in court!
10.13, that’s one hellofafriend and must have been one hellofafavor.
According to the budget documents, Cayman Airways will receive a total of CI$37 million from the government to run both the Domestic Air Services to the Sister Islands and the Strategic Tourism, Regional and Core Air Services for this two-year budget cycle, in addition to the usual subsidies. The airline will also receive equity injections to cover losses and loans of CI$12.1M in 2024 and $9.M in 2025
Shouldn’t we know what the wording, “ usual subsidies” means in terms of $$$$. My guess, operating losses, subsidies and equity injections for two years about $100M CI. You couple this with losses and subsidies for the Turtle Farm,HSA , CINICO and supplemental appropriations and the rest of the government owned businesses and there is no way CIG can run a surplus let alone break even. Best guess, a deficit at year end 2025 in the neighborhood of $100M CI.
When you’re in a hole quit digging 🤔🤔🤔
why not Nashville Tennessee?
thumbs downers dont know how fun it is
probably want more same day miami flights to import things duty free
flights should not be the priority for fun holidays, it should bring tourists down.
They will come. Nashville is a rapidly growing city and Tennessee visitors love the islands.
“which meant the remaining flights had been more profitable”
Does profitable mean before subsidy? I doubt it.
SELL THE DAMM LOSS MAKING THING.
Cayman Airways is a financial burden on the country, but when there are emergencies we have a tool that makes us a priority and will meet our needs. Remember who we depended on for the COVID era, post Ivan and in the event of hurricane threats. Very few other Caribbean countries have a national airline and are generally not happy that they are at the mercy of foreigners and companies that ‘make business sense’ when they are in legitimate need.
Cayman Airways provides a service in national interest by establishing new gateways, proving commercial viability (which often invites competitor airline entrants for the route), and broadly putting downward pressures on competing fares once multi-airline routes are in place. This bolsters our tourism product and promotes travel affordability. As you also noted, it allows for airlift in emergency circumstances. Yes, CA is subsidized, but I would argue that the national benefits of their commercial activities vastly outweighs the costs not covered by their direct revenue collection.
It’s more accurate to think of CA as a hybrid business and service entity, rather than as strictly a pure business. (This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put in place safeguards and policies regarding expenditures and gateway/route decisions, but just that there is more to CA than their immediate business activities.)
The downward pressure on fares argument would be a good one if you could show that CAL was charging the same or less than the other airlines, which it isn’t. And as for the strategic airlift argument, on the once in a decade need to bring in flights because commercial carriers abandon us, why not charter? You know how many aircraft you could charter for the amount we spend every year on CAL? The argument is theee for airlift to the sister islands – but CAL is a mixture of national pride and giving some people very expensive toys to play with, not rational commercial decisions.
If competitor charges 1250 and CAL is charging 1300, they didn’t necessarily drag competitor down, but definitely put a competitive ceiling on their price tag.
This is why even though Island Taste is more expensive than Tortuga, Tortuga can’t charge $5 a patty.
Island taste Patties are made locally, so we know what’s in them.
Worth the cost .
Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in he USA. 3 major sports franchises are moving there. It’s absolutely asinine to not include it in CAL’s direct flights.
Yes but people go there to go on vacation. Do you think they will then travel here to continue their vacation?
Not enough people live here to make that route feasible as how often will someone here realistically go to Vegas? Once every few years at best.
do you apply the same criteria to austin????
Austin is the new San Francisco, good for tourism (both ways) and finance.
What a total joke.
They yap about saving the environment but then implemented frequent flights to Barbados with only 23% occupancy rate. How pathetic. You can’t have it both ways.
Kansas??? Are you on crack?
Get a real business man in charge and have direct flights to Las Vegas once a week. Those flights would be packed.
What about Denver and Panama what is their occupancy rfate?.
There is a direct flight from Denver to Cayman.
I think you’re missing the point, does the load factor to Denver justify the route?
Who would fill the seats on that Vegas flight you propose?
Vegas flight once a week would 100% take market share of Cayman and Expat costumers from going on Miami, Tampa or New York. NYC is a total mess right now with woke policy of illegal immigration, light on crime and defund the police insanity. Not as bad as San Francisco though
11.17, there would be Mac, his chauffeur, his bodyguard, his personal assistant from UDP days, plus their hangers on from various government departments similar to those who went to Honduras with Mac.
Just guessing..
interesting to see how everyone seems to be distancing themselves from any responsibility for the Barbados flight.
“charter” okeh…
Kansas??? or Kansas city, Missouri?
i’m assuming it’s Missouri because i can’t actually envision many people
to or from from wichita or topeka.
maybe Dorothy…
kenny, start clicking those heels!
Shows the inexperience and narcissim to be in such a position, who spent their years drugging and ‘modelling’ LOL…smarter people in GT than this to promote and not destroy the Cayman Islands any further.
Should have gone ATR or Dash8 a long time ago. They can also do Miami, Jamaica, Bahamas, BVI runs.
CAL is not good value for money ceo 300,000usd annual salary. vp 250,000 usd. Come always late. CAL lost its Cayman customers after charging for luggage and 150usd charge for change fee.Gov just gave cal 25 mil. 55yrs x 25 mil is approximately 1.3 billion. CAL is a dinosaur.
ATRs are crap planes.
Cancun..San Jose.
Great idea but to fleeting for the small
minds that have control
Either of those would add excellent airlift to the soon to be booming Brac.
I thought the Brac was dying not booming. Didn’t someone just ask for planning permission to build a grave yard big enough to hold the entire population of Cayman Brac?
Cayman too crowded traffic jammed expensive and being turned into crime ridden Jamaica by corrupt politicians..
Brac has learned some lessons not to let that happen.
should have sold it years ago
Paul, don’t let them make you the scapegoat for Kenny’s foolishness, you’re better than that.
Fabian W and Paul T are the biggest problems at CAL. The both need to go and start over.
Kansas?????
LOL
Not anymore
I think we should use sound financial judgement in selecting destinations. In keeping with two negatives equals a positive, the best city to fly to in the USA would be one whose name rhymes with Kenny.
Maybe Kennebunkport or Kennybuiltdock or Kennybankruptus.
Finally the public’s constant call for the Minister and management of CAL to return to more flights to Miami has been heard. While I don’t know much about running an airline I do know that Miami is a viable route. Most Caymanians (and others) can afford a flight to Miami now and then for shopping, Disney or doctor’s visit, connecting to other airlines etc., so why inot? Who in their right mind believe the rubbish about bringing passengers from Europe anyway? I posted a few weeks ago that the Barbados route seemed to be a “charter arrangement” . I cannot understand why the Minister and CAL couldn’t bring themselves to state the facts instead of pretending that it was a CAL destination. I believe it would be OK to have the Barbados government charter the plane if they are paying all the cost to do so and if it can be done without compromising the flights that the majority of the Cayman residents frequently take. However I don’t think we have extra planes sitting around waiting on a charter to Barbados!
Mr. Tibbetts. You are a man of integrity and intelligence so please do not allow the Minister to use you to clear up and fixed his stupidity. Do your work but let him get out of the mess he got himself into. I believe that 90% of the reason for the Barbados charter is for him to show up in Barbados in our planes pretending like he own then and 10% is to “tow and fro” the few passengers who use the flight.
I hope we will discover the REAL reason for the Idiotic and costly Barbados route …as it stands the entire Board is being made to look foolish due to some hidden Kenny arrangement.
“Financial judgement”.?
This is the UDP what’s in this for me gang we’re dealing with.!
Miami Miami Miami Tampa! Miami Miami Miami Tampa!
Why iw it so hard to figure this out.
Why is it so hard to hit the correct keys?????
Orlando Orlando Orlando. (At least in summers)
South West will commence direct flights from/to there in June 2024
https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/new-kci/emerging-air-travel-trends-could-make-kansas-city-attractive-destination-for-new-service
Kansas might be worth looking at
You mean Missouri… Kansas City, Missouri…
Agree. Caymanians and residents that can afford to travel and shop seem split between Tampa and Miami. Also, CIG/Civil Service health care is split between those two.
Myself, I like the more sedate pace of Tampa, and a possible concert at the fairgrounds, and the outlet malls across the bay north of St. Petersburg.
Plus, let us never forget the timeless superlative culinary experience of Bern’s Steakhouse in Tampa. Largest wine selection in the U.S. They make and grow their own everything. It’s a total experience. No, not a shareholder, although I ought to be. ;o)
And Orlando! Bring back the Orlando flight
Thank you! And JFK. We’re getting steady visitors from NYC on that route so keep growing that rather than starting all over again in new markets!
Boston!
Is that more than a feeling?
Been there before
LOL, they can’t even keep their lies straight. Barbados was at first a great opportunity for CAL and the Cayman Islands. Now it is a charter by the Barbados government. Please go with Dallas over Austin as it offers a lot more connections especially given that AA drops that route during the winter.
Anyone from Austin could drive to Dallas or Houston
Whereas anyone flying into Dallas – a major hub – wouldn’t want to drive to Austin to get their connection.
– The quality (newness) and capacity of the new 737 jets has allowed CAL to have much more flexibility than ever before.
– Glad to hear they are looking to replace the Saabs at some point. That makes sense.
– Hope they find a 3rd Twin Otter soon.
– We are very fortunate to have our own National Airline… let’s keep supporting it!
Yes, there is nothing better than being proud of an airline that runs in a total debt structure and burns through +$40 Mil in bailout subsidies, with no profit.
That’s Cayman Pride.
I find the Saabs to be quite comfortable for interisland travel; much more legroom than the jet, and because the Saabs don’t always dovetail with incoming flights, they are reliable and less likely to be held up awaiting a connecting flight(s).
Maybe the DoT could call the liners that serve Cayman to tell them the destination city is George Town, Grand Cayman…not “the Grand Caymens”, or Grand Caymen Islands”…cringe. While on the phone with them, they can explain that there are immigration machines for G7 passport holders and no paper customs declaration necessary for those families not exceeding colossal duty allowances. More important to tell them about consequences for undeclared guns, ammo and drugs. Such an easy task you’d think.
Incoming visitors should be informed that the gummies which have been legal for more than a decade and have become commonplace for them, are still illegal here and could get them thrown into a room with bars and a cold stainless steel toilet.
Kansas???
But why???
Red Neck City
Any family connections in Kansas just saying!
Austin route? Yes!!!!!
Austin + Nashville
Manchester, NH. Small. No competition. Competes w/ Boston. Can get you to Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont. Skiing, casino, malls, restaurants and everyone from north can travel down for holiday without a hassle.