StormJib said:That would only be true if you could economically justify even flying legs of less than 300 miles. Economically those short legs never make sense financially anymore. See above; $100-150 to fly 90 miles. That also adds at least three hours each way to the trip from the East Coast and +/-$300 roundtrip. An airborne 737 from MIA or any US airport can cover that same ground for 9 cents per passenger mile or less or less than $10 incremental per passenger. Whether ferry or propeller plane from anywhere in the Caribbean the connection to get to Tortola does great harm to the 21st Century tourism.
Doesn't make sense financially for who? The Airline? The traveler? Cape Air has proven you can be successful with short leg routes. And as a frequent traveler from Boston, these short legs are the highlight of our travel. No only is it the fastest way for us to get there, it's a great experience with excellent views on the SJU to EIS leg of the flight. From a cost perspective, it's not so far from our other alternatives and when you factor in what time we get on island vs the alternatives, its worth the added cost.
If we lived in Miami, then direct flights from Miami might be nice. But there's plenty of people where that won't necessarily be an improved option. Especially with few flights and if you have an issue, odds are you are out of luck as there will be few alternative options (if any). Even if we could go BOS-MIA-EIS, that would likely be a longer day as MIA is a bit out of the way still.
I'm not sure how a new alternative from SJU is anything but a good thing.
