The government has signed a contract with Winward Islands Airways (Winair) to provide additional airlift in and out of Montserrat during February and March.
The agreement will help to improve access for the peak travel period which occurs around the St Patrick’s Festival, taking place from 8 to 17 March this year.
Winair will operate flights to Montserrat through VC Bird International Airport in Antigua and the airline’s main hub, Princess Juliana International Airport in St Maarten.
Premier Reuben Meade, who has responsibility for access, initially revealed that a contract had been signed with an airline during a town hall meeting on Friday, 10 January, in Salem.
He did not name the airline at the time, but said return airfares would be “in the order of EC$650”.
In a press release from the Office of the Premier on 13 January, he revealed that the contract had been signed with Winair.
“We have proactively engaged Winair, which has served Montserrat well in the past, to help facilitate the movement of people and goods into and out of the island,” he said.
Meade added: “We have provided this as an interim service, while we continue to explore medium- and long-term enhancements to air and sea access to support sustainable growth of our economy.”
The Access Division will issue an additional update on ticket fares and the opening of the Montserrat booking portal when it goes live online, the press release said.
Alternatively, people can contact the Access Division by email at accessmni@gov.ms, telephone at (644) 491-3378 or on WhatsApp at (664) 392-3600.
Access problems
Currently the only companies providing access to Montserrat are Fly Montserrat and SVG Air – both operating air routes to and from Antigua. There is no ferry service.
Former premier Joseph E Farrell’s government opened a bidding process for qualified operators to provide new air transport services to Montserrat in September, last year.
Applicants were asked to run routes to Montserrat from one or all of the neighbouring islands of Antigua, St Maarten, St Kitts, Guadeloupe, or Dominica.
The former government also agreed to pay an EC$200 per flight subsidy to Fly Montserrat or SVG Air from June to October last year which would be passed on to the customer as a discount.
Following its election on 24 October, Meade’s new government stretched the subsidy into November, but the premier said there was no possibility of a further extension due to inherited budget issues.
In the same interview, Meade said his government had been unable to secure a public ferry service from Antigua for the festive season.
