Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is ready to take you to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
CAL announced that it will launch 3x weekly flights from July 14th, 2024.
Pending regulatory approval from the Trinidad & Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA) and the Government of Barbados, CAL plans to fly via Barbados on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The return flights operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
Flights will be operated by Caribbean Airlines’ ATR 72-600s with 68-72 economy class seats and tickets go on sale on May 2nd and prices start at US$192 from Trinidad.
CAL first applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for permission to fly to Puerto Rico back in 2020. At the time, the airline planned to operate so-called “milk run” flights, stopping in several Eastern Caribbean countries on the way to Puerto Rico. Milk run flights are flights that stop in several places while on the way to their final destinations. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered plans as T&T’s borders remained closed for an extended period.
CAL again applied to DOT in 2023 for permission to operate the POS-SJU route – an operational forecast in the 2023 application projected that CAL would transport 5,339 passengers to and from Puerto Rico with that number quadrupling to 21,356 passengers in 2024. It was granted a foreign air carrier permit on September 21st, 2023 but never launched flights, instead focusing on building out its Eastern Caribbean services in a bid to fill the void left by LIAT (1974).
Commenting on the news, Caribbean Airlines’ CEO Garvin Medera said “We are excited to expand our passenger and cargo services to San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of our ongoing effort to better connect the Caribbean. This move is crucial to our growth strategy and represents our commitment to offering our customers convenient and reliable travel and trade options.”
This would be the 5th US destination for Caribbean Airlines, the others being Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and New York. CAL will not be alone on the route though, American ultra-low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines recently announced its intention to provide service between Puerto Rico and Barbados from July 3rd. Frontier plans to operate 3x weekly using its Airbus A320s.