This week, Delta Air Lines announced another sign of the travel industry’s post-pandemic recovery: The airline has boosted its seat capacity for Jamaican flights during the 2022/2023 season.
The change means seat capacity will go up by over 1% from the 2019/2020 season, which is remarkable considering that the pandemic hadn’t yet started.
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) received the news this week.
In addition to increased seat capacity, Delta will restart some Detroit-Jamaica and Minneapolis-Jamaica flights that were cut because of the pandemic.
The JTB director of tourism, Donovan White, expressed enthusiasm about Delta’s announcement. He sees it as “a distinct vote of confidence” about Jamaica’s recovery as a tourist destination.
White also feels that leaders at Delta have noticed how well Jamaica has recovered so far. The island nation has seen a notable increase in stopover arrivals compared to 2019, which brought the largest number the country had ever experienced.
Delta already has numerous non-stop trips to Jamaica’s Sangster International Airport. They depart from the following locations:
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Minneapolis
- New York City
Additionally, the airline offers several non-stop routes between Atlanta and Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, Jamaica each week.
Delta isn’t the only airline participating in increased trips to Jamaica. Officials at JetBlue informed the country’s government that it would drastically increase seat capacity to the nation by July.
The increased capacity will allow 40% more people to visit Jamaica compared to the same month in 2019.
Jamaica’s minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, indicated that the island’s impressive travel connectivity makes it appealing to tourists.