Avelo Airlines Adds Montego Bay Route as Jamaica Boosts Airlift Support

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, remains upbeat that the current winter tourist season will be the best ever amid a continued boost in airlift support.

He gave an optimistic outlook yesterday (February 12) in welcoming the inaugural flight of Avelo Airlines out of Raleigh, North Carolina, to Montego Bay. The twice weekly flight expands Avelo’s operation in Jamaica, complementing its other twice weekly flights out of Hartford, Connecticut since November 16, 2024.

Avelo is an American ultra-low-cost airline headquartered in Houston, Texas, focusing on providing low-cost air travel with flights to various destinations across the US. Captain Joseph Trevino and his crew of four brought close to 60 passengers on the inaugural Raleigh to Montego Bay flight.

Expressing hope that the worst of the winter freeze in the United States had passed, Minister Bartlett said “the better news is that we are expanding South America, and now have new flights coming out of Lima, Peru” and in the next two weeks, “we will get conclusion of an arrangement with Avianca to have new flights coming out of Colombia.”

Minister Bartlett said in addition to talks also taking place with Brazilian airlines, “on top of Copa and LATAM, which are now big drivers, and Arajet coming out of the Dominican Republic and connecting into South America, we will be able to achieve the 100,000 visitors from South America, which we’re projecting by 2025/26.”

Eastern Europe has also been identified as another area for Jamaica’s expansion drive with Minister Bartlett indicating that:

“We’re getting new flight arrangements out of that [Eastern Europe] region as well.”

In a bid to offset a slight shortfall in US arrivals due to extreme winter weather with a strong push in South America, Mr. Bartlett said a major announcement would be made within another few days regarding a new visa arrangement “in relation to that in terms of one of our largest partners in the Caribbean.”

Recently Minister Bartlett announced new flights from Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. He saw the new flight arrangements as Jamaica being able “to future proof the market at a level never seen before” in terms of “marketing engagement and airlift arrangements that we are now experiencing. Indeed, in the last three years, post-COVID, we have taken off and created a new frontier in terms of outcomes from tourism, both in terms of revenue, as well as visitor arrivals.”

In addition to job creation and room expansion, he also pointed out that “we have enabled a larger number of small operators to become engaged in the tourism industry.”

SEEN IN IMAGE:  Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (left) shakes hands with Flight Captain Joseph Trevino who, supported by a crew of four flight attendants, brought some 60 visitors to Montego Bay on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, on the Avelo Airlines inaugural flight out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Both Minister Bartlett and Captain Trevino expressed a desire to see the twice weekly flight expand in the near future. – image courtesy of Jamaica Ministry of Tourism

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Dr. Kingsley Roberts

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Ministry of Tourism

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