by Bavita Gopaulchan
People are already booking flights to head out once the borders are reopened on July 17th.
This was confirmed by Corporate Communications of Caribbean Airlines Limited, Dionne Ligoure.
Responding to questions by Guardian Media Limited yesterday, Ligoure stated there has also been an uptick in traffic to CAL’s website since the prime minister’s announcement of the country’s borders reopening on June 26th.
She indicated that it was “normal and natural” for there to be an increase in “people’s interest to travel” after not being able to do so for over a year. However, as far as bookings are related, Ligoure said there has been an increase in bookings but noted that the airline was still closely monitoring the situation.
According to Ligoure, the destinations people are currently interested in are Miami, Orlando and New York.
Ligoure emphasized that CAL expected heightened interest from the public as many of them would have different reasons for needing to travel. She said for instance, “naturally” some, who are green card holders and have to deal with immigration matters abroad, will want to travel now that they can move “freely”. Additionally, she said people with properties abroad, students or even those in need of medical treatment outside of the country, may also want to take the opportunity now.
Liguore noted that since the closure of the border last March, the state-owned airline has had a Restart of Operations Committee in place to ensure preparations continued. She added, while the airline is based in Trinidad and most of its “activities take place here”, CAL continued to operate out of Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica using strict travel safety protocols.