Buys three more Max 8 Aircraft; Smaller planes on order to service intra-regional market

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is expanding its fleet, as the regional airline plans to ramp up intra and extra regional travel.

The board of the Trinidad-based airline is expected to present a strategic plan to the Cabinet of the twin island republic in the coming about its plans to expand its operations to increase connectivity to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) and throughout the region. Trinidad Express Business is reporting that as part of its presentation CAL will advise the Keith Rowley government that it will acquire at least three additional Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft to service the North American and North Western Caribbean routes.

This is in addition to more ATRs for the Eastern Caribbean and between Trinidad and Tobago. CAL also plans to tell the incumbent administration of its desire of leasing Brazilian built Embraer aircraft to compete against Copa Airlines on the South American route with either flights to Rio De Janeiro or an agreement with the Brazilian carrier, GOL to fly passengers between the region and South America.

RFP sent out for Max 8 aircraft

Caribbean Airlines confirmed to Trinidad Express Business that it has already sent out a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the three 737 Max 8 aircraft. Asked, when it expects to go out with its RFP for three additional 737 Max 8, CAL responded by simply saying, “This is completed.”

The company was also asked, if the acquisition lead to more routes or greater reliability on existing routes. It told Trinidad Express Business that while the additional Max 8 will lead to more routes, it was not prepared to say at this time where the aircraft will be deployed.

CAL also confirmed that it is expecting to take possession of other ATRs to service the regional routes. Asked if it was looking at acquiring some Brazilian made aircraft to also fly some routes and what was the state of discussions with GOL to partner and compete with COPA on the South American route, the T&T national carrier said, “Caribbean Airlines is always reviewing its options to enhance its operations and service delivery.”

Enhance connectivity in the region

The Airline wrote in an email response the media outlet: ”Caribbean Airlines currently operates an extensive and reliable schedule to over 20 destinations. As part of its mandate to enhance connectivity in the region, the airline intends to expand its route network. At the appropriate time more details will be provided.”

The Cabinet presentation comes less than two months after Carnival 2023 saw smaller numbers than 2020 and the lack of connectivity was blamed for the smaller number of revellers. CAL’s announced fleet expansion is welcome news to tourism stakeholders who have been concerned with both the price of tickets to fly to T&T and the frequency and availability flights.

It is now much more difficult to get to Trinidad and Tobago by plane than it was pre Covid-19, due to the loss of all LIAT’s flights, all flights out of Canada, except Caribbean Airlines and a significant reduction in service out of Florida. Figures provided to the Express Business by the Airport’s Authority for the month of February, leading up to this year’s Carnival, show the number of flights coming to T&T from all destinations decreased by a massive 46 per cent.

Decline in flights to T&T

There were 408 flights this year as compared to 760 in 2020. It must be noted that on both years Carnival fell almost on the same date and therefore the peak demand period was the same. LIAT no longer has service in 2023 as compared to 2020 when all its flights were functional and provided much connectivity to the rest of the region.

American Airlines operates one turnaround flight per day versus 2020 when it operated one turnaround and one overnight flight. JetBlue has pulled its Ft Lauderdale route and now operates only one flight compared to 2020 when there were two flights per day.

West Jet and Air Canada no longer fly to Trinidad compared to in 2020 when they operated pre-Covid. The statistics also show that Caribbean Airlines simply cannot pick up the slack with its limited number of planes and routes.