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REDjet lands at St Kitts' Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport on a charter flight in May (Photo by Keethon France)

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CUOPM) -- St Kitts and Nevis has given permission and is ready to welcome scheduled flights into the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport by REDjet, the region’s first low fare airline.

“We have said to them (REDjet), we are ready to receive you here in St Kitts and Nevis. Our people need to be able to have alternatives and competition is important. We believe that it will not only improve on efficiency and reliability of other carriers, but to a large extent impact positively on the fares,” said Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas in response to an email from a listener during his weekly radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister” on Tuesday.

Douglas said his government has already given the green light for REDjet to operate flights to St Kitts.

“We would want to have REDjet operate from Barbados to St Kitts, from St Kitts to St Maarten and then back to Barbados and then on to Guyana. We believe that is a route that our people would love. That is what we are working on,” said Douglas.

Douglas, the current chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), in a statement on Monday welcomed the resolution of the issues surrounding the licensing for the Barbados-based low cost carrier, to operate flights to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
The two CARICOM countries had announced last week that REDjet would be allowed to operate flights into their countries after initially raising safety concerns with the airline.

The issue had also been a major talking point at the CARICOM summit in St Kitts earlier this month and Douglas said the “willingness of the member states involved to bring about a positive outcome speaks to their commitment to the regional integration enterprise.

“Transportation is a key sector in the development of our Community given its role in ensuring the co-mingling of our peoples and enhancing trade among our member states,” he said, adding “safe and affordable transportation is therefore of vital importance to creating the viable and prosperous Community that we all seek.

“It is to be hoped that the competition which this new airline brings to the air services sector will redound to the benefit of our citizens both private and corporate with respect to more competitive airfares in particular,” Douglas added.

REDjet has since announced plans to expand its operations to other Caribbean destinations, including the Dominican Republic and Grenada.

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