American Airlines on Wednesday announced a weekly year-round flight from Miami to Argyle International Airport, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, among increased flights to other Caribbean destinations and Hawaii.
The airline said that with the new flight options, beginning Dec. 22, its customers will have “new options to escape the cold with more seasonal and year-round flights to the Caribbean and Hawaii starting this winter”.
“American is the first U.S. carrier to serve St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVD) with the introduction of year-round Saturday service from MIA,” the airline said.
Currently, Caribbean Airlines operates a weekly non-stop scheduled service from JFK International and Air Canada Rouge a weekly non-stop scheduled autumn/winter service from Pearson International, Canada.
There is also a chartered Sunwing service being operated out of Pearson for the Spring/Summer period.
It further said that its “sun-seeking customers will also have more opportunities to reach their favorite Caribbean destinations”, including new flights to Aruba, Grand Cayman, The Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos.
There will be increased flights to other Caribbean destinations, including Barbados and Trinidad.
The flights to St. Vincent will be operated using the airlines A319.
American Airlines’ website said the carrier operates two versions of the A319, each of which has 128 seats — eight in first class, 24 in main cabin extra, and 96 in main cabin.
As with all the other flights announced on Wednesday, tickets to St. Vincent will go on sale on May 14, but, unlike the other destinations, in the case of St. Vincent, that date is subject to change.
Meanwhile, in a separate press statement quoting the American Airlines release, CEO of the SVG Tourism Authority, Glen Beache, expressed his elation with the announcement from American Airlines.
Beache said that “to have direct service out of Miami is a game changer for the country (St. Vincent).
“This service will make it so much easier for visitors including the diaspora to vacation in St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.
He further said that with Miami being one of the main hubs for connections in the United States, the service will be “an excellent gateway for visitors from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and even the United Kingdom to access the beauty that is St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.
In 2017, the North American market accounted for 42 per cent of stay over visitors to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The American Airline scheduled non-stop service from Miami gives visitors and Vincentians another option to travel directly to and from the destination, the Tourism Authority said.
Waiting on the internet trolls and haters…. I’m not even gona comment….. The floor is yours lol
Another baby plane coming once a week starting in late December. Add this to other non-stop flights from North America (as I will do for as future essay) and it is a pitiful drop in the bucket given that such a small portion of these people will be non-Vincentian international tourists, exactly the cohort Argyle airport was built to attract.
Meanwhile pitiful defenders of our pitiful mainland tourist industry, people like AI, are so insecure that they are compelled to post nasty comments about Internet trolls and haters to mask their Argyle airport inferiority complex.
You never disappoint….. So predictable lol .
Nobody takes you seriously
I am a Vincentian living in Dallas TX.Great news!
C. Ben-David the clock time is moving forward, please work and adjusting your psychological time. Focus on the now, let go, let go, let go of the past, embrace the present, the future is now!
I hope the government (us taxpayers) is not paying them to come here.
great news
we need some flights from South America and Europe in the near future as well
anna.v you are quite right but DREG’s at one time told us the Venezuela state airline would be flying in and would be the SVG flag carrier and premier airline.
More niceness, Miami is in the house. Keep them coming. Loud mouth Ben, you’re doom. At least AIA is up and running attracting airlines, unlike you who struggling for support.
Am elated bout d American airline announcement its a step in d right direction ……. n to does who cannot travel to b fro stop hating ur time will come n I will b able to enjoy d darm airport ….. n u all need to stop put politics b4 d need of d country. 1st it wasn’t going to Built wel it finish, next no international flight. Well there is, now d plane dat is coming is small. Do u guys hear ur self it’s an American airline n direct frm America…..
I’ve never heard of a man drop out of d womb n run around d room please remember u creep b4 u walk n we creeping now slowly but surely we gonna walk n run
Barbados feeling the pinch already. Please tell them why you mad
A pastor should be should. be a person of high moral standard ..not a wild. brainless animal .4 years is not enough!
Ben why do you and others on here hate progress
Lol, Ok boys play nicely. However, the baby plane ting made me LMAO 🙂
Maybe he eluding to what in his pants as tiny baby dwl lols. Don’t cry Ben just a jk
Once again We have heard from the Prophet of Doom & Gloom,
evidently he is currently trying to erase in Our Minds his outlandish Claims that the AIA is not only a Disaster . But his claims regarding the
Argyle International Airport , are beginning to fall apart .
I have been at pains informing him , that it would take some time before
the AIA comes up to speed , considering that it is just over 1 year old .
I seriously doubt that this latest news is going to make him pause in his
unrelenting attack on the Argyle International Airport .
It would be interesting to hear or read his Comments about an International Airport , if during the NDP’s 17 years in Office It had built
an International Airport .
I wish C Ben in his wisdom would stop viewing AIA as a stand alone business entity but rather an economic one. As with a Highway or school or hospital the accounting is not as simple as 1+1=2;There are multiplier effects and other spill off benefits that are difficult to quantify.This is a case of a government trying to discharging its responsibility to better the lives of the Vincentian people. Truth be told it is not an expensive project; Just consider the contract of one NBA player; over 100millon US dollars; You can take the salary of 4 Cleveland Cavaliers players and build the AIA. We should applaud the guys for thinking big; Something some of the IWN regulars seem incapable of. Give the AIA a chance!!
I have never viewed AIA as a stand-alone entity but as a means of transportation whose success can only be judged by its value-added contribution to the economy as a whole which has been negative so far because the costs of constructing, funding the debts of, and servicing the airport have outweighed and will continue to outweigh its benefits to the economy as a whole, especially the tourism sector.
And it is indeed a very expensive project given the size and debt load of our economy.
And how and why could you possibly compare the salary paid in America to elite basketball players to the cost of AIA? What on earth do they have in common? Nothing.
If you want to compare anything compare the salaries of a couple hundred NBA players to the non-salaries of thousands of homeless people in America, especially black men instead.
According to the Hon: Cecil Mackie, Minister of tourism, on a recent news broadcast on 705, stated across all sectors we’ve seen increases, reporting on 2018 first quarter. Dude, yesterday we shipped (36,000) lbs of sea foods all the way to Miami, the largest thus far. ET. Joshua, no way.
All this good news will be totally failure if WE the citizens of this country are not hands on and increase our entrepreneural skills to provide entertainment, water sports, up to health standards food vendors and restaurants, decent public transportation, nightlife entertainment, festivals and arts and crafts shops, revamp botanical garden , sight seeing tours , proper and modern accommodations and hospitality, etc.
All these and more can only be done by us the proud citizens of this country.
The Government responsibility is to provide the infrastructure, enforce the laws and manage all these sectors of society. They need major restructuring of the police force , General hospital, roads, coastguard plus control crime and bring law and order to the county.
Without these taking place we can kiss tourism and flights goodbye unfortunately.
EVERYTHING UP UP IN SVG!!! BOOM BANG!! PROGRESS WE SEY!!!
Thirty years ago it would have taken the Argyle International Airport ten (10) years or more to get to its is current level of operation. The advent of of technology and globalization have now makes this very easy.
Some time ago I said the airport would be profitable in 8-10 years and I am very serious about that. Look at what we have achieved in such short space of time (just over one year). Our tourism will outpace a lot of small Islands in the next 10 years, particular because our diversity.
Once we have a sustained level of development we will see exponential growth in the medium to long term. Our real prospects for growth lies in the North American market.
We must however take some steps to clean up our destination, rejuvenate and beautify our beaches, and improve our culinary services.
If this hasn’t happened after having a tourism sector on the mainland for many decades, it will never happen now.
Indeed, nearly all the areas you mention have continue to be ignored or degraded since February 14, 2017, the day AIA first opened.
We are just not ready, willing, or able.
All you mindless fans of AIA, together with mindful boy Beache, are jokers.
The Comrade has been preaching since 2005 that AIA would offer nonstop flights from around the world to address the inconvenience of having to stop-over, even night-over, on the way to SVG from distant places, something that was retarding our tourism development, or so he said, an assertion I have repeatedly shown is false.
Beach and the Comrade have been tirelessly preaching the same sermon ever since.
Now Beache is preaching a totally different and contradictory sermon when he says that Miami is, … an excellent gateway for visitors from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and even the United Kingdom to access the beauty that is St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
We had an excellent gateway for decades.
It is called Barbados, which has a much larger, more elegant, and far better featured Grantley Adams International Airport than the pint-sized, budget-level, play-play airport at Argyle named after a place our white, colonial slavemasters came from.
In a flash, what was long seen as an oppressive and inconvenient gateway retarding our tourism development has been transformed into an excellent gateway for overnighting in or transferring through on the way to Argyle … instead of Arnos Vale.
As I said, all of you are jokers. But the clever joker, Beache, has a big time job trying his very best to sell our second-rate, mainland tourism product.
The rest of us are just catching our a*ss.
Valuable input, well said.
Ben take off your featherd if you have nothing to hide and say I am mr Jack Sprott from Layou, rather than using your alias C.ben-David. You are certainly not a Jew but you sound not like a rasta but a rascal.
Why cant you people simply attack my message, if it is wrong, rather than trying to attack me personally?
Yes, I indeed have lots to hide. Are you so dunce that you, Amos Greaves, a man or woman using an alias as well, that you dont you know that I have to use an alias simply to protect myself from your verbal, and possibly, physical attacks?
Ben-David, the biggest problem with much of what you have to say in your numerous epistles on AIA is that you assume incorrectly that the case Beache, or McKie, or Ralph make for constructing AIA is that they actually believe what they say or that Vincentians believe them.
The truth is much more simple. St, Vincent got an international airport only because we received enormous help from Cuba and Venezuela. We could not do it on our own. That is absolutely certain. But that also came with a crucial caveat. Castro and Chavez needed to be told that AIA would transform the economic and development trajectory of St. Vincent. Only then could they justify in their own minds giving St. Vincent such an enormous gift. Traditional lenders could not be so persuaded.
The real reason for constructing AIA however is that most Vincentians want an international airport to escape Barbadian arrogance for which we have suffered for many years. We would in fact be happy if the rosy economic predictions come true. But we are perfectly happy that we could have breakfast in New York and lunch in St. Vincent on the same day without having to go through Barbados.
Now in an article or two you would have referred to this as airport envy. But the feeling of being belittled in Barbados has been real for Vincentians for a very long time. You may not see this a rational economic reason for constructing AIA. But there is no country in the world where nationalism is rational economics. It is simply national pride. And as Vincentians we are really proud of AIA – and quite grateful to Cuba and Venezuela without whioh there would be no AIA,
Ben I guess you have amnesia calling others pitiful senseless mindless among many other names too numerous to list. Lol
C. ben but that’s exactly what you do, attack people.
Charlatan amassed (150,000) hits amidst poor ratings. Really? Put to rest FAKE NEWS and state facts.
If you can count, which seems doubtful since all you seem good for is spouting ULP propaganda, you could simply look at the number of hits on this and other sites where my pieces have been posted.
For example, the very first one posted on Caribbean News Now! has received 24,257 reads (http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Letter%3A-Get-ready-for-a-November-election-in-St-Vincent-and-the-Grenadines%21-But-which-November%3F-22812.html ) as of this moment while the last one recently posted on the same site has received 800 hits so far.
Im sure that within another year, the pieces in the series will have been accessed over 200,000 times.
Why would I possibly lie about something that is easy for anyone to check?
I know that sometimes the truth hurts but too bad for you.
As the son of a Vincentian and frequent visitor to SVG since 1957, I see AIA as both a blessing and a challenge. First, PM Gonsavles finished a project that all his predecessors only talked about. It’s unclear, though, whether AIA will ever generate enough revenue to pay for itself. Will it be an economic engine or a huge drain on the country? The announcement of direct service from Miami may help me make the trip from the Western US if the connection is better than through Barbados or Trinidad. (Spending a few days in either island on the way to SVG is no hardship.)
As the editor of this publication has pointed out, the mainland does not have the beaches that attract tourists. In fact, SVG has done nothing to protect the beach at Indian Bay which has seriously deteriorated over the years. The beach has narrowed, there is significant runoff from adjoining properties, and there’s even a giant stone wall with a warning sign. A good start to improving tourist potential would be restoring Indian Bay and requiring property owners take better care. A better beach would help nearby hotels which have fallen on hard times.
I look forward to traveling through AIA on my next visit.
This is great news. Now we need to get British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and other carriers on board. Black sand, Brown sand, White sand. We have it all. Crystal clear waters, clean and safe beaches are the real beauty. The real work has just started. We all need to do our part and be good ambassadors for SVG. We will need faster and better connection to our sister islands. Let us stop waiting for the government to do everything and start taking the initiative in providing services that will be beneficial to the Nation. In a few years after we gained experience, we will become much better than now. Now we also need roads across the highlands connecting east to west and roadmaps. Good tourist information pamphlets etc. Put people to work cleaning up the islands because that too is also a good investment. This can only get better.
As I have been saying for years now, the Government of SVG MUST RENEGOTIATE the contracts and deals made with foreign or local companies in the Grenadines. Besides paying taxes and creating a few jobs for local citizens of which they are being under paid and not paid at times….. These companies operating in the the Grenadines should be held accountable to include the mainland their business strategy plus the tourism and hotels sector must offer inclusive deals.
Another important issue of tourism I would personally like to ask the minister of tourism, when will the water recreation equipment such as jet skiing, wave runners, etc. Laws be lifted and allow for beach goers and tourist to experience these recreation in maybe a designated part of the mainland or the Grenadines.
Also black sand may not be enticing for laying or playing in but what about horseback riding for tourist and locals. When can we enjoy a good food festival to highlight fish frying and many other local dishes. Extending the regatta to include the mainland, these events and many more are simple starts to make and can be implemented immediately
Jim Jordan, I disagree with most of your false or unsubstantiated assertions:
1. I never said or assumed that Beache, McKie, Ralph believed what they were telling the people about AIA, namely that it would be a game-changer, as Beache has repeatedly called it, that would bring untold wealth to our country. Actually, the reverse is true: I have repeatedly written that the airport was a deliberate political hoax meant to win elections, not to enhance our prosperity.
2. There is indeed lots of proof that most Vincentians believed the rhetoric coming from our political masters, including hundreds of posts on this site, on IWNs Facebook page, and on the Friends of Argyle International Facebook page. Indeed, you only have to look at most posts to my essays, nearly all challenging my assertion that AIA would never be an economic game-changer for us. Thanks to the education revolution and the rhetorical skills of our leaders, we are simply an easily fooled and gullible people.
3. Yes, we received help from Cuba, Venezuela, and other disreputable regimes but the amount of this help which has never been revealed has been exaggerated by this government. Whether the airport would have still been built using only loans and the sale of Crown lands, is anybodys guess.
4. There is not a shred of evidence that, Castro and Chavez needed to be told that AIA would transform the economic and development trajectory of St. Vincent. On the contrary, there is lots of evidence that this aid was given to reciprocate for all the support SVG has given these countries over the years on international tribunals such as the United Nations.
5. It is false that, The real reason for constructing AIA is that most Vincentians want an international airport to escape Barbadian arrogance for which we have suffered for many years. First, most Vincentians have never travelled to Barbados, let alone transited through the country. Second, the so-called arrogance and other bad treatment received in Barbados has been grossly exaggerated as my experience using the airport dozens of times going back to 1969 has shown. Our people are usually the arrogant and boorish ones making a big deal out of the slightest problem or inconvenience, something I have repeatedly seen as being more prevalent at Arnos Vale than at Grantley Adams airport in Barbados. It is also now occurring at Argyle when perfectly legitimate attempts to ensure the safety of passengers by minor pat-downs and random luggage searches are viewed as major catastrophes.
6. Now we are being told to believe that the “inconvenience” of a short transfer through Barbados will be replaced by “an excellent gateway [Miami] for visitors from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and even the United Kingdom to access the beauty that is St. Vincent and the Grenadines, an assertion you seem to have accepted hook, line, and sinker.
Ben, you have failed to come to terms with the central reality behind AIA’s construction: nationalism.
No Vincentian can speak with certainty about the economic value of AIA. They can assert – but they actually do not know. Hence lots of the posturings on Facebook etc are nothing more than engaging in a political battle with with the NDP and its supporters who have opposed the construction of the AIA virtually every step of the way.- hence it is unsurprising that ULP’s will parrot the government’s talking points about the economic value of the airport. Ralph did not fool Vincentians into supporting AIA. Instead, he tapped into a deeper Vincentian nationalism and relied on it to maintain political support.
Your explanation of the relationship between between the AIA and Vincentian politics is flawed. It is not about Ralph fooling Vincentians. Rather, it is about Ralph recognising the multi decades long sensibilities of Vincentians who see an airport as reflective of our sense of dignity vis a vis Barbados and other Caribbean islands. You are correct in recognising the consequence of this: Ralph wins political office again and again. But you are dead wrong in assuming it is because we were being fooled.
You are also deeply mistaken if you believe that SVG could have built this airport without the help of the governments you detest. You simply have to speak to Maurice Edwards now the former Director of Finances if you meet him in a rum shop about the grave difficulties the government has faced and continues to face every single month in paying teachers, police etc.
You are also deeply mistaken if you believe Ralph could have said to Castro and Chavez SVG that needs an airport for national pride. The socialism they espoused is one based on claims of universal brotherhood, not narrow national pride. There is simply no way Ralph could have told them otherwise and no way we could build the airport without them. In fact if Castro and Chavez were not internationalists they would have kept the limited Cuban and Venezuelan resources on their own soils where they are desperately need
Now I grant that you may not share that sense of Vincentian nationalism and that you may have been the recipient of great courtesies in Barbados. For my part I have experienced detestable conduct in Barbados and wonderful conduct as well. But the Vincentian experience writ large in Barbados is an unhappy one that is crystallized in the airport but in truth goes far beyond that.
In your airport envy piece you were actually coming close to that apprehension. That you fail to explore it further reflects to me that you are most comfortable discussing economics which assumes the rationality of human beings rather than culture which makes no such assumption. It is in studying Vincentian pride and culture where you will find the answer to the question: why build AIA? And as a Vincentian who has been travelling for a very long time – though you beat me on that- I am really happy that we have AIA and I spare no thought for the economic cost or the economic arguments for and against AIA.
Well said. But your thoughtful reply nevertheless ignores that Dr. Gonsalves exploited the nationalistic shame felt mainly by the midlde and upper classes that we didn’t have an international airport just to win elections based on votes from the rest of the population.
In my very first AIA essay, I said of the Comrade’s decision to build AIA that, “A more brilliant Machiavellian masterstroke the Caribbean political world has never seen!” (https://www.iwnsvg.com/2014/09/17/get-ready-for-a-november-election/ ).
In other essays, I compared building AIA to building the pyramids and sports stadiums but with the caveat that the have-nots in little SVG could ill afford the building of useless monuments thrust on us by our clever leaders.
More particularly, we are a relatively poor country in which bread-and-butter issues facing ordinary people must take precedence over emotive issues like nationalism, pride, and dignity — sentiments that are almost exclusively felt by members of the middle and upper classes, namely people who make up a small minority of our population.
When I am in SVG, I have my nose close to the ground and know that the majority that makes up the poor, lower, and working classes have little time for emotion and patriotism in this matter: they truely believed that AIA would make us far better off economically. And they were fooled into believing this by those who knew otherwise.
The time that the masses recognize that they have been played for a-s-s-e-s in that regard is the time that the ULP will lose power.
Ben
I like the idea that Vincentian nationalism vis a vis the airport has a class based component and that idea deserves analysis. But the anti Bajan sentiment within SVG predates the airport driven concerns by decades. But there is definite value in making the point that the middle and higher classes who would be the major beneficiaries of the airport have a capacity to manufacture, recognize, and mobilize national sentiment far more effectively than the lower classes to win the construction of an airport.
But note: Ralph is also highly schooled in communist and anti imperialistic rhetoric. And Chavez and Castro were deeply vulnerable to such appeals. Ralph himself recounts sitting down with Chavez and Castro looking a Vincentian topographical map and they were shocked at the mountains they would have too remove to create runway length. On our own, we could not blow away those mountains.
Jim Jordan there were no mountains removed they were only hills and hillocks not mountains. That is why people who have been abroad for any time have a better understanding of the silly statements and propaganda presented as fact by people like you.
I have just checked Air Canada and Sunwing again please see attached” OUTBOUND DESTINATION NOT AVAILABLE OR WRONG”, OH OH I should fly from Pearson to Miami, or Pearson to another island and wait for the next 5 hours for connection.
Its all very well attacking ben-David, but what he says is correct. Instead of dreaming that things can be different accept the facts.
This airplane will carry little cargo, certainly not what Beache promised the farmers.
The American Airlines owned Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries up to 160 passengers and has a maximum range of 3,700 nmi (6,900 km; 4,300 mi).
The same airplane could have flown into Canouan, its that tiny.
The available seating numbers in the A319 depends on the operating airline and the leg space they give. The seating ranges from 102 to 160. You can bet your bottom dollar that the flight to SVG will have the smallest amount of leg room so 160 will be the norm. Also if the ULP government have agreed to pay for empty seats, it will be 160.
The A319 is a narrow-bodied, short-haul passenger aircraft which can carry up to 1 tonne of cargo and a full passenger load. My pickup truck can carry the same weight.
Airbus A319 fully loaded, maximum takeoff distance at Sea Level, feet, 5,167. Landing Distance, feet, 2,220.
The Argyle International Airport is built on about 275 acres of land, with a paved runway 9,000 feet long, and 150 feet wide.
E.T.Joshua Airport, runway 4595 long, and 150 feet. The runway at Arnos Vale could have been extended, at a quarter of the cost.
The time it took to build Argyle helped bust Buccament, they were promised an international airport within 3 years of starting their project. Harlequin certainly have a lot to answer for but so do the government.
Jolly,
I did not attack Ben David. I disagreed with Ben David on the reason for the construction of AIA. I argue that Vincentian nationalism is a better explanation on why the govt built AIA. Ben David may indeed be correct on the economic criticisms/cautions he offers on the wisdom of constructing AIA. But I have a good faith disagreement. I am a Vincie nationalist and for me that is sufficient justification for having AIA.
You are free to disagree with me. But look at the argument I make, not some reflex claim of attacking anyone. I attack no one.
True. But you are a mischief maker for deliberately moving the Argyle airport goalposts about which I will have much more to say in a forthcoming essay.
But he was even correct on the reasons the airport was built, it was a tool to fool. A tool to fool all you idiots who do not believe this was built for political reasons.
Of course the hotel was built for political reasons if by that you mean that it would help persuade Vincentians to vote for him.
But nationalism is a political force and so too is ecconomic promises. I am simply saying that nationalism had greater weight in persuading Ralph to build the airport and Vincentians to vote for Ralph.
How could the biggest capital project in the history of the country has no political motivations or consequences? Did I make such an argument?
Moderator, please remove that earlier comment to Jolly since Jolly would not have seen my reply to Ben david.
As a Vincentian living abroad, this is really a game changer for st.Vincent and a step in the right direction for my country. I have long awaited news like this. Twice per year there is so much stress for myself and many other to fly home and back due to delayed flights and long layovers. I feel sad for my fellow Vincentians (C. Ben-David ) and company that are so daft and blinded by politics that they no longer can recognize progress even when it’s in there faces. If we really need for tourism to move forward then surely we need to invest in an airport. For the passed 12 years I have traveled the world over and let me tell you, our Island has a lot to offer when it comes to tourism. Yes I am not disputing the fact that we need to do more to attract tourist but come on my people we must commend progress when it is due.
Exactly what “lot to offer when it comes to tourism” do we have compared to other places?
But the man’s message isn’t resonating, everyone is tired of him. I’m sick of this nuisance called C.ben David, full time we rid this toxic from these sites. Vance, thumbs up!
You will surely f-ar-r-t 357 magnum bullets when you read my essay response. Why don’t you do us all a favour and go back to cleaning toilets on a cruise ship.
But we were promised 10 400 seat wide bodied jets, a day that is more than Barbados, more than Lucia, more than Grenada. An what we get is a tiny aircraft once a week that is inconvenient to most US travellers.
Give us a break Bro.
In regards to Jim Jordan’s interesting and useful comments about Vincentian nationalism, my comparative generalizations based on 45 years of overseas residence and travel is that nationalism, patriotism, love of country, and other nice things are certainly far less developed and embraced in SVG than in most other countries I am familar with, especially the United States — where in many parts of the country flags are flown on every streetcorner and in between, and Canada — a far less effusive country when it comes to nationalism — and most countries in Europe.
Indeed, growing up in SVG, I could not help but notice and remember all the negative things that were said about our people and homeland, especially by those who had spent years overseas in countries like Trinidad, Aruba, and Curacao.
Indeed, even among the elite and middle classes, our sense of belonging and togetherness, our understanding of our uniqueness in the world, our knowledge of and pride in our heritage and accomplishments is very undeveloped compared to most other places in the world.
Apart from econonic hardship, this is the main reason so many of our people are so eager to migrate to other countries.
On a scale of 1-10 where “10” represents unreserved patriotism and “1” means a national inferiority complex, I would give a country like France a “10,” a country like Canada a “9” and country like SVG a “3.”
My proof of this is all the nasty things people keep saying on this site about their homeland and its residents and the fact that many, if not most, Vincentians favour the success of their political party of choice over the well being of country as a whole.
I cannot for the life of me see how increased airlift can fail to have a dramatic positive effect on the economic fortunes of SVG. I have visited your country once and noted the almost total lack of large scale tourist projects. These projects both require and justify substantial airlift.
The Caribbean region has a strong comparative advantage in tourism. It does NOT have any such comparative advantage in agriculture, except where such advantage is created by government policy, which is never sustainable (as through tariffs and subsidies). Build the infrastructure and larger scale tourism is sure to follow – together with the high wage employment that follows it. This airport project certainly has my support.
Nonsense. Pure, unadulterated nonsense from a born Vincentian Labour hog.
You are entirely mistaken. I am not a Vincentian at all. In fact, as I said I happen to have visited the country once, in the year 2000, with a friend who studied law with me in London and is now a politician in SVG.
But what is interesting is that you fail to say just how what I have said is “unadulterated nonsense”.
bahamared, is that a coded name for a Bahamian Communist? Your comment is so flawed because the tiny aircraft does not bring more tourism. It simply gives the UK and US visitors [who are mainly Vincentians living abroad] a choice of changing flights in Miami or in Barbados. It is not an improvement at all it is simply another choice of routing during travel.
The only good thing about that is that it cuts out LIAT which is quite simply a rubbish airline, perhaps even damaging what the ULP government have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into during the last 17 years. So this flight from Miami will mean giving more money to LIAT in the future.
Remember we were led to believe that we would be able to go to our local airport wherever in the world we lived and fly directly to Argyle, quite simply a fraudulent and deceptive lie.
The lowest rated professor, the man has no sense. Go away toxic, leave us only.
As long as I have one breath in my body, I will continue to speak truth to power and ignorance.
The AIA just opened 4 months ago. Also I agree with C. ben-David May 12, 2018 at 5:37 PM.
sorry I was thinking: The AIA opened not so long ago. not 4 months ago.
Korey don’t be stupid Barbados has 3 AA flights a day right now and by December it will be 4 a day.
Wrong. They now have two and will get a third one by December.