Brent Pinheiro
brent.pinheiro@guardian.co.tt
Come 2025, airlift to Trinidad will receive a bump as United Airlines is set to operate a daily nonstop New Jersey-POS service for the Carnival 2025 period.
The news comes less than a month after United announced plans to operate a seasonal December-January nonstop service.
The Chicago-headquartered airline confirmed to Guardian Media it would operate a daily nonstop flight from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Piarco International Airport (POS) from February 13 - March 8, 2025. Next year, Carnival Monday and Tuesday are scheduled to be on March 3 and 4.
UA 1904 departs EWR at 7:00 pm, arriving in POS at 1:05 am. UA 1905 departs POS at 2:20 am, arriving back in New Jersey just over 5 hours later at 6:55 am. United will operate the route using Boeing 737 MAX 8s.
With the combined December-January and February-March services, United will add over 3,600 seats to the market.
On August 12, a team led by Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell and Airports Authority marketing manager Joanna Fridy met with United officials to discuss, amongst other things, the extension of seasonal flights from Newark toPOS past the Christmas period. Several days later, United agreed.
Mitchell told Guardian Media the airline’s plan “brings welcome seat capacity for the Christmas and Carnival period and offers a boon to our local tourism sector and greater choice for those wishing to visit our islands during those months. Increased visitors mean increased spending and an increase in our ability to earn foreign exchange.”
He said the Ministry of Tourism would continue to work to make the EWR-POS route available year-round.
United continues to operate its daily Houston-POS route. Tickets for the New Jersey-POS route are already on sale.