As Grenada enters the third year of the coronavirus pandemic, the airline industry is beginning to look bright once again for the island.
“It’s not all doom and gloom,” one leading industry official told THE NEW TODAY as she looked forward to a much better year in 2022.
She said that there is talk in the air that the German airline, Condor is due to resume flights to the Maurice Bishop International Airport in November for the next winter season.
The Germans are known to be high-spender and normally spend lengthy periods on the island during the winter months.
Condor was forced to suspend service to the airport in the south of the island as the airline industry became crippled due to Covid-19.
Most of the international airlines like JetBlue and American Airlines from the United States and Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have resumed normal service to MBIA.
However, the airline industry official said that there are a few storm clouds still hovering in the air.
She pointed to a decision made by Caribbean Airlines to pull out its service from the Barbados hub which in effect means the dropping of the Barbados to Grenada service, as well as the St Vincent to Grenada route.
“Nobody ain’t saying anything – not even the government,” she said.
The official also made some remarks on the current impasse between the small airline, SVG Air and the authorities on the Carriacou to MBIA run.
Describing the situation as in “abeyance” following the advent of Covid-19, she said it is not economical to make money with that kind of business.
“No one can put on a domestic route between Grenada and Carriacou to make money on a flight lasting just 8 minutes,” she said.
“There is no money to be made – that should just be a national service done as an offshoot of the Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation,” she added.
The operators of SVG Air have been engaged in discussions over a period of time with the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government on a subsidy to continue with the loss-making venture.
In recent years, tourism has emerged as the leading industry in Grenada following the drastic decline in the exports of cocoa, nutmegs and bananas.
