Tourism Starting in February, Saint Johners will be able to fly direct to Cancun and Cuba

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

SAINT JOHN - Sunwing Vacations is back for its third year at the Saint John Airport and has even added another flight. And all that success has occurred in a market that the airport's president and CEO believes has remained virtually untapped.

Enlarge Photo

File photo

Sunwing will begin offering direct flights to Cancun on Feb. 15 and continue to travel to Varadero, Cuba, beginning Feb. 17.

Bernie LeBlanc said the direct flights to sunny destinations are being expanded with a direct flight to Cancun, Mexico, being added to the 2009 spring schedule. Sunwing had previously announced a direct flight from Saint John to Varadero, Cuba.

"It's the type of thing we have to keep reminding people of," said LeBlanc.

The airline is also starting service almost a month early. The first flight will head south in February.

"They'll be covering the March break, which we've never had before."

Flights to Cancun begin Feb. 15 with weekly flights until May 3 and weekly flights to Varadero will start on Feb. 17 and finish on April 28.

Sunwing Vacations is 100 per cent Canadian owned and 2008 marks its second decade in business. In 2005, the company launched its own airline featuring Boeing 737s. For the third consecutive year, Profit Magazine recently named the company one of Canada's 100 fastest-growing companies. The Toronto-based company flies from 29 Canadian cities to 34 destinations in the U.S., the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.

LeBlanc said he'd like to see the Sunwing flights every week throughout the year, but he said the announcement of a longer season and another destination shows the company is pleased with the response.

"The (flights) must be worthwhile or they wouldn't be coming back."

With flights landing and taking off, LeBlanc estimates that the expansion of service will mean another dozen flights a year for the airport. Every time a plane lands, it pays a fee to the airport.

"That's very good for us and it's good for the southern New Brunswick travel market."

Having concentrated on the business traveller for years, LeBlanc said the airport now needs to exploit a niche that's been ignored.

"We see a gap there in the leisure market," LeBlanc said. "Those are travel destinations we need to make available because the market wants them."