109 Passengers On First Arkefly Flight
Leaving the Netherlands in the embrace of winter, 109 passengers were greeted by a balmy St. Maarten evening when they arrived aboard ArkeFly's inaugural flight from Amsterdam Sunday. The weekly scheduled flight left about two hours later with six passengers heading back to Europe.
As passengers left the 270-seat Boeing 767-300 ER, they were greeted by two young women dressed in traditional outfits handing out courtesy bags from St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA). Representatives of ArkeFly and its parent company TUI International were welcomed by Acting Lt. Governor Mathias Voges, Tourism Commissioner Roy Marlin, St. Martin Collectivite Second Vice President Daniel Gibbs, Airport President Eugene Holiday and other tourism officials.
The flight opens the door for more tourists from the Netherlands in particular and Europe in general, a market that has not been fully explored in the past, Marlin told the gathering, adding that this was changing. All partners have to work together to generate interest in the flight that will benefit passengers on both ends of the journey, as well as St. Maarten and ArkeFly, he said.
The direct flight opens doors and possibilities for the island and its neighbors, Gibbs said in his address. He said working together now and in the future was important for the island to keep getting results like the arrival of ArkeFly.
Holiday said ArkeFly was in keeping with the airport's credo "En Route to New Horizons" as it added to the annual 85,000 flight arrivals, maintaining PJIA's position as the second busiest airport in the region, and to the island's visitor arrivals that have grown by 1.5 per cent in the past third quarters. TUI International Director of Capacity and Yield Christina Zandberg said the airline was delighted to expand further into the Netherlands Antilles with St. Maarten as its third destination.
Flights are already in operation in Curacao and Aruba. The return flight from St. Maarten stops in Curacao before heading back to Amsterdam.
Tickets aboard ArkeFly cost about NAf. 1,222 per person.
» Airlift with British Airways and Virgin Atlatic
» Low airfare between New York and St. Maarten
» JetBlue offering special fares
» What is wrong with the regional airlines?
» Princess Juliana International Airport
» LIAT reviews travel agency commission
» ArkeFly
