New Airline Launching in Cayman Islands

A new Cayman Islands-based airline is planning to run scheduled flights connecting to the Caribbean and Latin America.

BlueSky Airlines has already launched an “executive jet” service aimed at high-end clients in the business world.  

The service, which allows executives to take day trips on private planes to meetings in the region, will also target exclusive leisure travelers.

The next and more ambitious phase of expansion for the fledgling company will be commercial routes, bypassing the U.S., and linking Grand Cayman to islands around the Caribbean, as well as central and South America.

The airline’s directors say they are still finalizing regulatory approvals and other details before announcing a timeline for the opening of the new routes.  

They plan to use a 70-seater Dash 8 Q400 aircraft, which can reach cruising speeds of nearly 435 miles an hour – similar to a Boeing 737, to run island-hopping multi-destination routes connecting to hubs in Latin America.

Potential routes could include a British Virgin Islands-Grand Cayman-Costa Rica link. Other potential destinations include the Dominican Republic and Colombia, though the exact schedule has not been finalized.

Aviation expert Edward Jerrard, who is a consultant for the company, said it would complement rather than compete with Cayman Airways, bringing in passengers from around the region who could then access the national airline’s routes to destinations like Cuba and New York.

The airline will initially lease pilots and crew with the aircraft but ultimately aims to recruit and train a locally based workforce of around 50 employees.

Mr. Jerrard said the company aimed to exploit a gap in the market for travelers looking to skip the headache of traveling through Miami and connect to Latin America and beyond. He said it would also link in with other airlines within the Caribbean to facilitate smoother travel within the region.

Source: Compass Cayman