By API
St. Vincent and the Grenadines became the newest destination in the region to be served by American Airlines. American Airlines made its inaugural non-stop service between Miami International Airport (MIA) and Argyle International Airport (AIA) last Saturday, when flight AA 1427 landed just after 3:40 p.m.
Speaking at a brief ribbon cutting ceremony at the AIA to mark the historic occasion, Alfredo Gonzales, American Airlines Managing Director for the Caribbean said the airline was thrilled to add SVG as its newest destination in the Caribbean, further strengthening their already “robust Caribbean Network which is a source of pride for the airlines for more than 45 years”.
Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture, Cecil McKie who took the first flight from Miami to AIA extended congratulations to American Airlines officials stating that they have made “a very wise decision” to take on the SVG route.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who was on hand to welcome the passengers and crew of the American Airlines inaugural flight, congratulated all involved noting that SVG is very proud of the partnership with American Airlines and looks forward to strengthening it as they go forward.
Excellent news for SVG
This is positive stuff I want to see coming out of St. Vincent
Of the total expected air arrivals at Argyle in 2019 — around 200,000 landed passengers on all flights — these 52 American Airlines flights will make up no more than three percent.
Of these passengers, less than 10 percent, or a pitiful 0.3 percent, would be bona fide tourists as opposed to Vincentians residents returning home from America or disaporic Vincentians coming home for a visit , as I will show in a subsequent opinion piece.
Stay tuned.
Ben, you just can’t stomach the good news. I think it’s best for you to find a cave in the hills and hide from reality.
The author is not stated in this comment, by his rant and negativity smells like it’s coming from one source. Presumably, the source is the converted Jew, you know who I mean.
Yes, a Nazi can always smell a Jew.
Can someone please explain to me why a certain person who comments here is always so negative about everything in SVG? Why does he work so hard to convince people that he is an honest man and that he is telling the truth? Why is he always against anything the NDP does and always praising Gonsalves? Even when Gonsalves is wrong? What is this evil rat trying to achieve? Sometimes you might think, ah, he must be pissed off at this or that but you can’t fail to notice an insidious pattern in his operation. Even when the news involves murder he is always there stoking the flames of doubt and hatred. practically writing books spreading propaganda using so-called legitimate sources. He goes to lengths to convince that his analysis is sound, that they are based on truth and that he is an Academic recognised by a legitimate institute so the rest of us must listen to him and believe him. I think that that man, C Ben David, hates SVG to the core. Does freedom of speech mean that one is allowed to consistently spread hatred using the local news outlets?
Thank you, Kenton X. Chance, for not only believing in but embracing on your site every day Section 10.1 of our beloved 1979 Constitution which reads:
“Except with his own consent, a person shall not be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference (whether the communication be to the public generally or to any person or class of persons) and freedom from interference with his correspondence.”
Actually, many of our citizens are free speech fascists who only want to hear or read speech with which they agree, ignorantly calling any speech they don’t like “hate speech” even when it is factually correct and expresses no emotion — hate or love — whatsover.
These people have continually opined that they would do whatever they could to muzzle people like me whose ideas they despise. Is it any wonder that people like me feel compelled for our own safety to use pseudonymns? Our enemies are not the government or the police; our enemies are our own people who want to destroy us for expressing our own opinions.
Please keep up your good and honest work, Mr. Chance, for only free speech can truly keep us free.
C. ben-David
I wonder if you were in Washington DC doing what you are doing here to the United States what would happen? Or any other country for that matter.
All freedom loving Vincentians should celebrate the fact that there is at least one journalist in the land, Kenton X. Chance, who both believes in and upholds Section 10.1 of our previous 1979 Constitution which reads:
“Protection of freedom of expression
10. (1) Except with his own consent, a person shall not be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions without interference, freedom to receive ideas and information without interference, freedom to communicate ideas and information without interference (whether the communication be to the public generally or to any person or class of persons and freedom from interference with his correspondence.”
Unfortunately, there are too many anti-free speech fascists on this site who only want to hear speech with which they agree, ignorantly calling speech they don’t like “hate speech,” and demanding that is be censored.
Mr. Chance, never waver from your right and duty to allow the airing of all views on your site that do not actually slander people or call for violence against people or our beloved society for without freedom of expression we can never be free.
How can true speech be called hate speech? Just asking.
When the speech involves demeaning and insulting remarks toward the Vincentian people.
What I hate are the “demeaning and insulting remarks” of a government and their self-serving fanatics: remarks meant to demean our ability to think rationally by insulting our intelligence about the true nature and realistic expectations of our mainland tourist industry based on the construction and operation of AIA.
This is excellent for our economy. It should not matter if the visitors are tourists or returning nationals because they all are spending money while in SVG. IMO, returning Vincies spend more money than tourists. Not to mention the money and clothing they give to family and friends. AIA, is a blessing to our country in many ways and it has not even realized it’s true potential as yet.
So, your opinion is that more Vincentians are now coming home because they don’t have to transit through Barbados any more even though the thousands of them who live far from New York, Toronto, and Miami, the only hubs with non-stop flights to Argyle, have to transit through or even overnight at these hubs before reaching home.
What is your evidence for this “opinion?”
1) waiting long hours for your connecting flight to SVG is costly. That money no longer has to benefit the economies of Barbados, Trinidad, Grenada or St. Lucia. 2) Vincentian men don’t forget their home-boys. They have a drink or two with them. That’s money to the local shop/community, which will circulate in the wider economy. 3) Vincentians don’t come home to sit down on their porch to watch the sunset and enjoy the cool breeze. They are part of the hustle and bustle in Kingstown shopping and not to forget they go to the best restaurants to enjoy a quality meal. 4) Vincentians now have easier access to their money from their foreign countries now that there are ATM machines available. 5) When Vincentians come home, they love to travel around. They rent vehicles, they visit the Grenadines and so much more. They spend their hard earned money to enjoy those benefits.
Many of the aforementioned are now being heightened by our international airport. This is something we all should be proud of. Peace
Bogus blighted ignorant dude called Ben garbage, done with. Facts in your face, oh how I love to slam this fool. From inception I’ve been blasting this clown. Eat your heart out with this one. February/December 2017, total arrival by air amounted to 80,000 put that in your plate. Look out for 2018 figures, going to surpass that of 2017. Wait, not finished, all the international flights are fully booked. I told you, no one is paying you any mind with your 70 +pieces of trash.
The 70,000 was well below the average of the 10 preceding years.
Every seat sold on the international carriers was one less seat sold on LIAT, an airline we own and subsidize.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
So much discussion here and attacks against C.Ben David. I think his information about Tourism and the airport are all very eye-opening. He is terrible about other topics, such as Crime. His education on Crime is non-existant.
What is mentioned by his opponents here is that the new airport brings people here to put money into the economy. Is it more than when we had the old airport? What about all the money it took to build the airport? What about all the money it takes to keep it open? How much are we paying this airline just to fly here? C. Ben should mention tht whatever money this airport brings us, it probably costs us much more.
If this airport is making us so rich, then why… OH WHY! are the taxes not going down? Instead, they have doubled the taxes!!!
Though this government would never release the figures, it is clear from the low mainland hotel occupancy and the many closed businesses in Kingstown that all the costs and expenses incurred by the new aiport at Argyle have had a negative effect on our already troubled economy while attracting an infinitesimal number of new travelers, Vincentians and foreigners alike, who would not have travelled here if they had to transit through Barbados to Arnos Vale instead.
Nearly all of those people praising the airport and the handful of international flights it has brought here live overseas. Vincentians living at home know better than to do so because they see every day that there has been no uplifting of their lives or the economy since the airport opened nearly two years ago.
Nice, nice.
I would love to comment on “whatever money this airport brings us, it probably costs us much more,” which I am sure is true but this government would never release the proper figures for me to prove that this is so.
And I hate guessing without facts, unlike all my critics on this and other issues including the relation between crime and the economy.
Compilation of so-called facts against AIA is not working, only spinning top in mud. Wrongheaded and ignorant, little or no followers, in spite of numerous data according to tourism EXPERT Ben David. Ben, 2019 approaching, why not clean up your act? Any connection between you and Mr Trump? .