Seaborne Airlines Moving Headquarters to San Juan

Seaborne Airlines plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from St. Croix to San Juan by March.

The move is part of an agreement in which the government of Puerto Rico will take an equity position in the airline and have two seats on the board of Seaborne's parent company, Coastal International Airways.

Seaborne will create 400 jobs in Puerto Rico, and 150 of the 400 positions will be added in Puerto Rico in the first quarter of 2014. The carrier also will add new routes out of San Juan.

Service to La Romana in the Dominican Republic began Dec. 12; on Feb. 14, service will launch to Punta Cana; on March 1, San-St. Maarten flights will begin.

"There is little that is more important to economic development than global air access," said Gary Foss, Seaborne's president and CEO. "This agreement will strengthen Puerto Rico's ties with the rest of the Caribbean."

Seaborne operates as an American codeshare partner in select markets at San Juan and has interline agreements with JetBlue and soon with Delta.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia-Padilla noted that the new partnership with Seaborne has "recuperated routes that were discontinued in the Caribbean, and now we are strengthening our position as the main hub in the region with connection to the mainland U.S."

The governor was referring to the pullout by American Eagle from San Juan in March and American's earlier move to relocate its Caribbean hub from San Juan to Miami.

Source: Travel Weekly