And in airline news...

American Eagle expands air service to Martinique

American Eagle will offer daily service between its hub in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Martinique's capital, Fort-de-France from April.

The new daily service replaces previous the American Eagle service, which operated four times weekly.

"This is a wonderful boost for tourism in Martinique following the just concluded general strike among our local unions," said Muriel Wiltord, director of the Americas for the Martinique Promotion Bureau/CMT USA.

"The strike may have had a minimal impact on tourism, but we intend to put forth a maximum effort to ensure a successful year for our travel industry partners and visitors to the island. This is a great start to that maximum effort, and I hope to have more good news to share soon."

The strike action began in the French overseas region of Guadeloupe on January 20th and spread to neighbouring Martinique, crippling the islands.

The general strikes began over the cost of living, the prices of basic commodities, including fuel and food and demands for an increase in the monthly salaries of low income workers.

The protests ended after union leaders reached agreement with employers on a pay raise.

Winair keeps Nevis route

The St Maarten-based Windward Islands Airways International (Winair) has shelved the plans it announced a few weeks ago to cut its Nevis route.

Managing Director Edwin Hodge announced yesterday that after several days of discussion with the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), agreement was reached to keep the Nevis service going.

"Maintaining a reliable, scheduled air link between Nevis and St Maarten is in the best interest of the island and the people of Nevis, especially in the present world economic climate," said Nevis Premier and Minister of Tourism Joseph Parry.

"Our objective was to maintain St Maarten as a gateway to Nevis for international travellers, while providing the opportunity for Nevisians to travel to St Maarten for a day trip. This we have achieved and I'm sure that the mutually beneficial relationship between Nevis and Winair will continue into the future."

A decline in the number of customers and rapidly growing operational costs that put a strain on the airline's finances had prompted management to announce plans to cut four routes - Nevis, Dominica, Tortola and St Kitts.

While the Dominica route was abandoned on March 1st and Tortola and St Kitts had their last flights on March 29th, the Nevis government approached the airline's management to see what could be done to save the Nevis service.

"The attempts and efforts made by the government of Nevis demonstrate the excellent and long-term relationship that both Winair and Nevis has shared over the years. Therefore, I commend Premier Parry and his team of officials for their efforts and significant work in saving the route as they understand the importance that Winair has been playing within the community," Hodge said.

The Winair executive pointed out that the airline has established a number of interline agreements with some of the world's major carriers, including Delta, United, Northwest, Air Canada and Air France, which will be able to connect passengers to St Maarten via Nevis.

"Winair provides a perfect platform for the growth and continued development of tourism in Nevis as it serves the island as a springboard for many tourists and visitors attempting to connect with some of the world's top airlines. We see a win-win situation with the input that the NIA administration has done and commend them for jumping immediately on board, as it is their vision which has brought the level of success that we are already enjoying," Hodge said. "I trust that we will (Winair) will continue to deliver as the expectations are very high."

Winair began servicing the island of Nevis in 1962 and has provided an uninterrupted service ever since.

The carrier also flies daily to the islands of Saba, St Barths, St Eustatius, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, and Montserrat.

Air Jamaica cuts NY-Barbados route

Air Jamaica will cut its New York-Barbados service, even as it increases travel on other routes as the airline aligns capacity to meet market demand.

Flights on the Barbados flight will be suspended on April 20.

At the same time, the other services that will increase include the New York-Grenada route, which will have four weekly flights; Fort Lauderdale to Jamaica, which will have five daily flights; New York to Jamaica, four daily flights; and a daily service between Toronto and Jamaica.

In all, Air Jamaica will increase its overall schedule to 246 weekly flights.