Miami to Cayman Brac flight announced!

[Roombaguy]

Copied from Cayman News Service

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(CNS): The long awaited direct flight from Miami to Cayman Brac starts next month, Cayman Airways Limited (CAL) has announced. The Saturday 75-minute flight will leave Miami at 12:30 local time and arrive on the Brac 12:45 local time. MLA Moses Kirkconnell, who is also president of the Sister Islands Tourism Association (SITA), said that this flight had been identified by SITA as critical to the rebuilding of the Brac tourism product, and members could now move forward in creating packages around this flight to penetrate the US market.

The airline said on Friday evening that from 17 April there will be a weekly non-stop flight from Miami to the Brac. The Roundtrip fares start at CI$292.60 (US$348.35) with taxes and fees included. The nonstop Saturday flights to the Brac depart Miami at 12:30pm (Eastern Daylight Time) as flight KX103, and arrive on Cayman Brac at 12:45pm (Eastern Standard Time). Passengers have two options for travelling to Miami: on flight KX102 departing the Brac at 6:10am and arriving in Miami at 9:50am on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with one stop on Grand Cayman; or flight KX103 departing the Brac at 1:25pm and connecting with flight KX108 at 2:55pm which arrives in Miami at 5:15pm on Saturdays.

While direct flights have been scheduled to the Brac before, the complaints have been that they left Miami too early for passengers on connecting flight to take advantage of them. This mid-morning flight will not only allow greater flexibility for passengers flying straight to the Brac, which would cut down on their travel time considerably, but visitors going on to Little Cayman can change on the Brac for the short hop to that island on the CAL Express Twin Otter aircraft..

Kirkconnell noted that the Sister Islands now has more rooms available than before Hurricane Paloma hit the island in November 2008. With the opening of the Alexander Hotel, the recent reopening of the Brac Reef, the imminent reopening of Brac Caribbean and Carib Sands condominiums, as well as the completion of phase 3 of Carib Sands, plus Breakers condos and a number of guest cottages, there will be approximately 200 rooms on the Brac. There are also 143 rooms on Little Cayman, he said.

Praising the Tourism Ministry, the Department of Tourism and CAL for working together to achieve this, he said, “If this works on Saturdays, we should look for more than one direct flight per week.”

Acting CEO for Cayman Airways Fabian Whorms said he was delighted CAL had helped make this dream come true. “As the national flag carrier of the Cayman Islands we are proud to have assisted with making this dream a reality for our Sister Islands, and we look forward to continuing to work with tourism and other stakeholders on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman in their goal to revive and regenerate their tourism product,” Whorms stated.

“Our government has been diligently working with Cayman Airways, the Department of Tourism and the Sister Islands Tourism Association (SITA) to secure this very crucial airlift to the Sister Islands as the tourism industry on Cayman Brac in particular is seeing growth through its ongoing revitalization,” said Deputy Premier and second elected MLA for the Sister Islands, Julianna O’Connor-Connolly. “I am very excited about this opportunity for the Sister Islands, and I encourage all tourism and other stakeholders on the Brac to continue to work together to ensure the success of this crucial airlift.”

Nonstop flights to Cayman Brac from Miami are now available for purchase through Cayman Airways or by calling: Cayman Airways reservations 949-2311 on Grand Cayman; 948-1221 on Cayman Brac; or a travel agent.

Cayman Islands News

 

[jdcpa]

Well, I can't say I am impressed.

A Saturday only flight direct from Miami to the Brac.

All return flights from the Brac go through GC.

Maybe it is of more benefit than I can see. I hope so.

 

[caymaniac]

Why would they wait till now to institute? A better time would have been before Christmas and then spring breakers would have a chance to use the flight too. Wait and see, they will say no one is using the flight that much anyway so it'll disappear (how come I sound really negative? ...maybe it's the way the Cay gov't decides to allow the flights/times)

 

[jdcpa]

While I agree the timing could have been much better, please remember that the Brac Reef is just getting back open again, and maybe the need was not there when the logical time to start the route occurred.

I really think the timing relates more to the availability of an aircraft. I assume they had to drop a route somewhere to add this one.

 

[jjgwarren]

Just glad to see that there are options for visitors to get to Cayman Brac - it has some great dive sites, and deserves the business.
Jane

 

[chibracdiver]

I think this is a great idea. I am hopeful that it is not being set up to fail. Government is going to need to invest a fair amount of $$$ to make this work. A really big bullhorn and a few well placed ads along with some articles in leading dive publications work help immensely. I fear some in the diving world have either wrote off the Brac due to Paloma and airlift problems of the past. It is time to re-introduce our fellow divers to the diving jewel of the Caribbean. I will be looking into this flight for our July trip, but for now we will be using the Charlotte/GC/Brac route this weekend for our trip.

Let's get back to the Brac. The pool is open.

 

[-hh]

IMO, this is mixed good news - - the question is, indeed, if it has been incorporated as a good business plan (and not another "set up to fail"): the key question is if the MIA departing time is late enough to permit same-day flight connections through Miami from other airlines.

Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of Caymanian decision-makers are luddites that seem to think that the world begins in Cayman and ends at Miami International Airport, because that's where their interests lie .. not their tourists. Even if you want to point to CAL's GCM-JFK flight as an example of a slightly broader horizon, just take a look at their schedule and try to plan a vacation around it ... its an utter failure.

Getting back to the MIA-CYB flight, for a few of us readers (ie, screwed over Divi Timeshare owners), this unfortunately already has some indications of not being major good news, because this announcement didn't include any statement from the Brac's other hotel owner, Divi Resorts.

For those who don't know this story, Divi shut down their hotel on the Brac a few years ago (pre-Paloma), claiming that "Inadequate Airlift" was part of the reason why they couldn't make any money.

As such, a failure to mention Divi - - merely the owner of the largest hotel (although closed) on the island - - tends to suggest that this flight change wasn't used in any way as an incentive to try to encourage Divi to re-open their closed property.

Personally, I'd suspect that neither the MLA or SITA even bothered to contact Divi beforehand.

Granted, Divi Resorts hasn't been a great corporate neighbor, but choosing to not use every obvious opportunity is a "Go It Alone" attitude that never bodes well for maximizing one's probability for success for the Brac.



-hh

 

[chibracdiver]

hh, the divi is in complete shambles. I just got back from the Brac yesterday and it is a mess. divi would have to pump major $$$ into her to get her back and running and I do not see it. There were rumors of offers and potential sales but nothing materialized. One local told me that one offer early on was rather attractive, but divi then changed their mind and jacked the price up. Probably a rumor so take that for what it is worth.

Everyone on island was excited about the new airlift. Now let's see if it pans out. I, for one, will be pulling for it's success.

 

[AggieDiver]

I fear some in the diving world have either wrote off the Brac due to Paloma and airlift problems of the past.

I sure hope so...people just need to leave Brac and LC alone...the diving there is terrible...no really...honest...I mean that! I would hate to see so many other people keep going there...especially not in August while we will be in LC for our 5th trip to the sister islands...

 

[jlevine]

Regarding this flight from Miami to Brac, was there any mention of baggage limitations? I seem to remember hearing that there have been problems with divers bringing their gear to Brac and luggage delays.