Now that the 2019/2020 tourism season is in full swing in Anguilla, Silver Airways, a US mainland based company, has made its first flight to the Captain Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport and is to begin its schedule service in the New Year from Puerto Rico.
The twin turbo-prop brightly-painted pink aircraft touched down at 1.30pm on Friday, November 1. It had arrived in San Juan earlier where it flew from Fort Lauderdale with in transit Puerto Rico and Anguilla-bound passengers from JetBlue. The aircraft and its crew, which will replace Seaborne Airlines, were met on arrival in Anguilla by a party of Government and tourism officials led by Premier Victor Banks.
Captain Robert (Bobby) Gene Simeone, told The Anguillian newspaper: “The aircraft is an ATR-42 600 (carrying 42 passengers) and based at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We came out of San Juan and commuted a bunch of people for a wedding in Anguilla. On the flight we have a Captain, a First Officer and a Flight Attendant. The aircraft is capable of flying for about four, or five hours, non-stop at 23,000 feet with a speed of 250 knots which is pretty fast. The plane is pretty durable and is one of our new ships. We have about five or six. We have three bases. Our primary base is in Fort Lauderdale. We have another base in Tampa and the third in Orlando. We are looking to expand and my understanding is that we will bring the ATRs to Puerto Rico. That should happen probably in the New Year.”
Captain Simeone, who was in Anguilla for the first time, said “the beaches looked nice” as he flew in. He remarked that while his aircraft can land at a short distance on the runway, he had seen a day ago a video of the landing of a Boeing 737 – 400 aircraft which required a longer distance “but which did it”. He indicated that his airline, which also owns Seaborne, operates both ATR 42s and ATR 72s. This means that, at any given time, the latter larger planes can be flown to Anguilla, bringing in more passengers on demand.
Premier Banks hailed the arrival of Silver Airways. “It is the beginning of the development of more access into Anguilla and we have a lot of other plans for this,” he commented. “We are grateful to the operators [of Silver Airways] for ensuring that this service is available to us. It expands our horizons in terms of outreach to various cities and destinations throughout the world – and certainly supports our tourism industry and the growing interest in Anguilla.”
Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary, responsible for Tourism, said: “This is something we look forward to for some time. Anguilla has had a relationship with Seaborne Airlines and now, with Silver Airways, it is upgraded. I suppose you can look back to American Eagle and say that gap is now being filled by Silver Airways. As we look to expand the ability for people to have more access to Anguilla, this is perfect for us. One of the things we would love to have happen is to include St. Thomas in all of this. We are having negotiations with Silver to make that happen – as we have a great responsibility for Anguillians in St. Thomas.”
Minister of Communications, Mr. Curtis Richardson, exclaimed: “Praise God! God is moving mountains again! The days of the small plane in Anguilla are becoming a thing of the past. Our Anguillian pilots have stood by us and have, over the years, built the aviation industry – and what we now need is to get the support for these sorts of larger aircraft. Nowadays people have a high premium on their time and this is going to do a lot.”
Minister Richardson continued: “I have just been talking to the representatives of Silver Airways and they have given me their strong commitment that it is quite possible for the aircraft to go to St. Thomas. I am looking at the Anguillians there and that aircraft also has to travel to St. Thomas and Anguilla. That is my fight as the Minister for Aviation.”
Chairperson of the Anguilla Tourist Board, Mrs. Donna Banks, had this to say: “With Silver Airways coming in with this equipment, we are very excited and happy because it is a bigger and more comfortable aircraft. It will give us the sort of comfort and connectivity that we need to have out of San Juan. We believe Anguilla has a number of hubs that it needs to focus on. We have St. Maarten, and we are looking at direct service out of gateways in the United States. But San Juan has always been there for us. It has been a very important hub for us in the past, and the Anguilla Tourist Board has, over the years, been supporting the Seaborne flight coming to Anguilla; and for us to see this aircraft here today, we feel that our major investment over the years is paying off.
“We are looking forward to the day when we can have at least two flights coming to Anguilla. That is the time that we will know that we will be offering our guests the perfect connectivity that they are looking for. We are thankful to Seaborne and Silver. They have demonstrated what they can do, and we are looking forward to the support of both the private and public sector for this new flight so that the route can grow, and that the market, especially out of the United States, can expand and we can see our tourist arrival figures rising to the level we want them to be at. Without access, there is no market.”
Mrs. Banks added: “There are about six flights between Puerto Rico and Anguilla a week. This Silver Airways plane is not starting to fly to Anguilla immediately. We are looking for it to be used early in the New Year when that equipment will be moved into San Juan. In the meantime, the regular equipment operated by Seaborne in the past will be used. That service has been improving but we expect bigger and better things. Silver has demonstrated a commitment to the market – and a confidence in the opportunities that Anguilla has a destination. We are thankful to Silver and especially to the Marketing Manager, Angelia Hanne, who has been working very closely with us.”
