While Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has reintroduced late-night flights between T&T, effective July 1, Tobago hoteliers argue that the problem is not just about flight numbers—it’s about reliability, booking systems, coordination and greater connectivity.
On Monday evening, CAL announced via social media that it would resume its late-night flight between the islands, a service that had not operated since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The daily flight leaves Trinidad at 11:30 pm and arrives in Tobago at 11:55 pm. The return flight departs Tobago at 12:30 am and arrives back in Trinidad at 12:55 am. This adds at least 136 seats to the airbridge (if CAL uses its lower density ATR 72-600s).
However, president of the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association Reginald Mac Lean said there is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed.
“The problem goes deeper. If somebody books a flight, they’re not going to spend an hour and a half to two hours on the phone to cancel the flight. So they just let that ride. That seat remains booked until nobody shows up for the flight and they get charged a $50 fee to make a change to that ticket.
“Again, this is unfair to the destination, both destinations, so people going back and forth. These are things that need to be changed. We need to have a more robust cancellation policy even if it comes down to 48 hours before. If you don’t cancel your flight, your ticket will end up being zero,” Mac Lean explained, to the Sunday Business Guardian on Tuesday.
Emphasising that the national carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL) has to make some adjustments in this regard, Mac Lean said Tobago would otherwise be forever known as the destination of “not having proper flights into the island.”
Further, he questioned what was the real purpose of the ATRs.
“When they (ATRs) were purchased, they were originally to run the airbridge. Now the ATRs are going up the islands and doing all sorts of trips all over the place. When there’s a breakdown in a flight to Barbados or Grenada or wherever the plane is going. The first plane that gets pulled is a plane off the airbridge. Again, unfair to the island of Tobago,” Mac Lean said as he called on CAL to invest better into Tobago.
“Help us get the product built back up in Tobago to where it can be self-sustaining once more and things will start to work. And that way we get those flights in the air bridge,” the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association president urged, as he continues to raise concerns that persistent flight issues continue to plague tourism and business on the island.
Moreso, he said the sister isle needs international support from CAL as well as the Airport Authority and Civil Aviation bodies to bring in other airlines to the island.
“Everybody needs to work together to make tourism work, especially where tourism is going to be the fuel of the future of T&T,” he stressed.
On what airlines in particular he would like to see come to Tobago, Mac Lean was not willing to divulge any particular ones, saying negotiations are currently taking place.
“But up till last week I had discussions with Guyana, and they’re also interested in coming to Tobago with a smaller aircraft, I think it’s a 25-seater. So even from Guyana, we are getting interest to Tobago.
“And we have interest out of Canada to Tobago, out of New York, another flight we need is out of Miami to Tobago,” he said, maintaining that Tobago’s international airlift is a vital lifeline—not just for tourism, but for the island’s economy, healthcare access and overall connectivity.
More significantly, he said additional airlift for Tobago would bring foreign currency for the country.
“Especially at a time when everybody’s credit cards are being cut drastically for travel and for paying for tuition for the children, etc. abroad. The only real alternative to gas and oil in Trinidad and Tobago, besides some of the manufacturing, is tourism.
“You have to be able to invest in both islands of Trinidad and Tobago and grow tourism in both islands, and share the resources. So, for example, we have a flight coming out of Holland into Trinidad, I believe, three days a week Why can’t one of those flights drop down in Tobago as opposed to Trinidad? You’re going to get the tourists coming in,”Mac Lean said.
Noting that the UK just imposed visa restrictions on T&T, he asked what was going to happen to the British Airways flights.
“Can we fill them with tourists? Because the Trinagonians are not going to spend all that money to get visas, the majority of them, and they’re going to bypass the UK. Are we going to allow those flights to run empty and get pushed out of the system? Or are we going to convert it to tourism flights as opposed to local traveller flights going abroad?
“There’s a lot of things, and it’s where we are trying to sit down with the relevant authorities in Trinidad and Tobago, this new Government, and work out the details that can work to boost tourism, to boost the US dollar or the pound or euros coming into this country,” Mac Lean added.
Sharing that he just returned from a three-city trip to Germany, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, Mac Lean said there were an upwards of 250 agents who expressed interest in the island, which could result in a big boost for tourism.
However, he said it has to be ensured that the Condor maintains its flight to Tobago.
Delving further into the island’s tourism sector, chairman of the Tobago Division of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce Curtis Williams said the island definitely needs not just more hotel rooms but “high end rooms and “the brand names.”
“Sorry to say, we have to get the brand name. Once we have the airlift with the new terminal building, we must put these folks somewhere to sleep. So we need it.
“We need the high end. Maybe a 200 room or 300-room brand name hotel would really give us that boost that we so desire in Tobago. That ripple effect coming out from just that brand name hotel coming to the island here in Tobago, you would not believe. You would be amazed to see how that could turn Tobago around. Tobago will be a gem,” Williams added.
