Do you want to report "Would passenger domestic flights take off in Jamaica?"
Based on what I know there’s only one domestic airline in Jamaica and they mostly due private, charter flights usually connecting tourists to Mbj, negril, Boscobel, Kingston and negril. They don’t seem to entertain passenger service. As such if low cost domestic services were introduced as an alternative to cut driving time between relevant towns and the stress of public transport , do you think that might work? Public hesitancy, challenge of keeping price low/affordable and push back from ground transportation services seem to be the obvious obstacles. NB: by passenger plane I mean those that are designed for short and mid range flights like [Embraer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_ERJ_family) or [bombardier](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_CRJ100/200) jets with between 35 to 50 seats. Edit: this is a hypothetical especially if rail service isn’t restored. Rail probably would render this and other current modes obsolete but rail isn’t coming back any time soon it seems.
Ok looking forward.
The demand seems to be depend on incentivizing such. Schedules don’t have to be regular but may be in infantile enough to match nascent demand (e.g. once a week since travelers such as university students, housekeeping workers from rural areas,etc travel to/from the corporate area on a weekly basis. Also I think as it relates to demand, it’s also about having ppl know that such an alternative exists because regular traffic happens in and out of the corporate area.
As it relates to operating cost, distance of travel seemingly would be of benefit to such a company. Flying KIN to MBJ is 30 mins (very short haul) which may spell economical for said company
No, as there are not enough people who do inter-city/inter-parish business to make traffic like that viable. A nice Mi-17 though….
By the way, what is the the cost per hour for one of those Bombardier CRJ / Embraer ERJ types?
It could work if you target the tourist market and offer affordable fares so locals could see flying as an alternative to driving to a destination.
Based on the available infrastructure, flights would have to be to these destinations, Kingston, Portland, Ocho Rios and Negril.
There are currently two companies that service these routes with scheduled flights.
The Knutsford Express, a luxury bus company, does well to connect these significant tourist hubs on the island, but driving takes from 1 to four hours to reach some destinations. Flying takes about 15 mins. Many Jamaica park their vehicle and travel on Knutsford Express for comfort, reliability, and cost.
Domestic flights connecting Montego Bay and Kingston would be convenient for people booking flights from either airport but in a different city.With plans to have flights from the USA to Ian Fleming International Airport, passengers could easily connect to Mobay, Negril or Portland. Tourist who wants to explore other parts of the island but doesn’t like the long drive could fly instead. They often complain about the diving from Montego Bay to Ochi Ocho Rios; they want to get to their resort and not waste two hours driving.
So it could work by targeting the right market and making it affordable.
