Barbados appears to be in line for increased airlift from the region.
After terminating its scheduled service to Barbados several years ago, Surinam Airways is making a bid to resume flights here, as well as to other Caribbean destinations.
Last week, it wrote the United States Department of Transportation and officially asked it to “renew its scheduled service exemption authority as well as the authority to operate charters”. Surinam Airways last had approval for such an exemption in 1995.
The airline currently operates service to Amsterdam, Aruba, Belem, Curacao, Cayenne, Georgetown, Miami, Port of Spain, and Paramaribo, but it wants to expand the service to several other destinations, including Barbados. The airline previously operated a service here, with Reservations Services Limited as its local agent, before it was terminated.
“By orders…and notices of action taken dated February 18, 1992; March 19, 1992; March 9, 1993; and March 9, 1995,…Surinam Airways has been granted exemption authority to operate scheduled service between points in Suriname and the co-terminal points New York/Newark and Miami, Florida, via one or more of the following intermediate points: Georgetown, Guyana; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Curacao, Netherlands Antilles; Aruba; Barbados; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti,” the airline’s attorney Herbert Rosenthal said in an application document dated March 17, 2015.
“Surinam Airways seeks to…renew its exemption authority issued on March 9th, 1995 and…amend its current exemption authority to include service between points in Suriname, on the one hand, and Orlando and/or Sanford, Florida, on the other via…Georgetown, Guyana; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Curacao, Netherlands Antilles; Aruba; Barbados; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. At this moment, the service to Orlando will serve Georgetown, Guyana, as the intermediate point.
“Surinam Airways desires to commence operations on or about July 1, 2015, during the months of July, August, and September. Initially, the service will be one roundtrip per week. If the service is financially viable, Surinam Airways would continue the service and increase the frequencies, serve Sanford and/or Orlando, and/or service other intermediate points.”
