Persons travelling to and from Anguilla are being offered cheaper flights aboard Spirit Airlines, a United States carrier, which made its inaugural flight into neighbouring St. Maarten on Friday, April 20.

Governor & Mrs. George and others

three-man team of executives visited Anguilla the next evening, Saturday, April 21, to inform Government, tourism and other officials of the new service and the benefits being afforded to the travelling public including persons coming to the island from the United States. The team comprised Ben Baldanz, President and CEO; Barry Biffle, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer; and Michael Pewther, Senior Director, Sales. A reception was held in their honour at Flavours Restaurant.

Mr. Banks with Ben Baldanz and other airline executives

They were welcomed by the Government’s Special Adviser on Tourism, Donna Banks. She told the gathering that everyone knew the importance of St. Maarten as one of the major gateways into Anguilla, but it was the first time that Anguillian officials have had the opportunity to welcome the chief executives of any of the major carriers coming to St. Maarten.

“I think this is truly indicative of the new relationship that Anguilla and other islands in the sub-region have with St. Maarten in terms of promoting tourism,” she stated.

Aviation, Port, Tourism Officials and others

Minister of Tourism, Victor Banks, said it was a new opportunity for Anguilla to have more people coming to Anguilla. “Anguilla has been served by American Airlines out of San Juan for the last 17 years; we have been served out of St. Maarten, Antigua and St. Thomas but the level of service has not been the kind of service that would ensure that passengers arrive here in the comfort and convenience that they deserve,” he stated.

According to him, tourism officials in St. Maarten, St. Barths and Anguilla had been looking at a number of options and Spirit Airlines was approached by the St. Maarten Tourist Association to provide a service there. “We believe that St. Maarten is the natural hub…and that the development of the service there is even more convenient for travellers coming to this part of the world,” he went on. “We believe that this venture is timely, that the relationship between Anguilla and St. Maarten has promoted this opportunity and we look forward to Spirit Airlines meeting the needs of St. Maarten and as a consequence the needs of Anguilla.”

Mr. Banks noted that flights would be made to St. Maarten on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays… and that up until May there would be an offer of US$99 one way between Fort Lauderdale and St. Maarten hopefully for at least a month.

Spirit replica for Mr. Banks

The Minister continued: “American Airlines have served us well; we do not want to knock them but at the end of the day, competition is good for everyone and we have already begun to see the affects of that competition on fares moving out of St. Maarten to the Florida area. I think it is important for us [in tourism marketing] because once you get to Fort Lauderdale you can make connections to all parts of the United States…The natural thing that we can do from this end is to ensure that the service we have between Anguilla and St. Maarten is improved.”

He observed that WINAIR will cease flights between Anguilla and St. Maarten as of May 15 and that Anguilla Air Services will now have the opportunity to service the route in full and has promised to continue to provide the high level of service.

Tourism Board personnel and others

Mr. Banks said there was need for improvement in the ferry service and the water taxi service between Anguilla and St. Maarten and that with the improvements at Blowing Point Harbour there would be more regulations for the operation of the ferry terminal there.

“It means that ferry operators will have to become more professional and understand that they will to leave at a certain time when they have passengers who are relying on them to meet their flight appointments in St. Maarten; and that their survival is based on their ability to provide that professional level of service,” he added.

Ben Baldanz, said he and the other senior executives had come to Anguilla because Spirit Airlines “were absolutely committed to a long –term partnership, to grow the economic activity between the United States and all of the Caribbean, especially here in Anguilla.” He stated that over the years from their operations in South Florida they had been looking at the very high fares which had hampered travel between the US and the Caribbean region and decided to break that cycle by offering very low fares to consumers based on very low operating cost.

“We do this without compromising on quality,” he stressed. “We have a very new fleet of airplanes – in fact the youngest fleet in all the Americas. We have a wonderfully professional flight crew and cabin crew; we have a modern terminal in Fort Lauderdale with connections to many cities in the United States…We believe that our flights into St. Marten will hopefully create much more economic activity, including people from the United States coming to St. Maarten and then to Anguilla; as well as Anguillians who want to visit the US to have an easier opportunity to do that. It will always be cheaper to fly on Spirit to South Florida than American Airlines into San Juan.”

Baldanz said that the three flights a week would eventually become a daily service either later this year or early next year. The aircraft being used on the St. Maarten route is the Airbus A319 which is configured with 144 seats. He described it as a very modern aircraft and stated that the oldest plane in the fleet was only a year and a half old.
The 36-fleet Spirit Airlines serves 14 destinations in the Western Caribbean area, several parts of South America and various cities in the United States.

“We are excited about serving St. Maarten,” he added. “We are excited about serving Anguilla by extension and as a whole Caribbean alliance. We are dedicated to providing great reliable service with low fares in season and out season; and we look forward to working with everyone in the Government and business community here in Anguilla.”

Mr. Baldanz presented replicas of the Spirit Airlines Bus to Mr. Banks, Governor Andrew George; Director of Tourism, Amelia Vanterpool –Kubisch and Donna Banks. In turn, the visiting team from Spirit Airlines were presented with tourism books on Anguilla.

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