Cayman welcomes back United Airlines

Cayman welcomes back United Airlines

By Christopher Tobutt

The arrival of four United Airlines flights at Owen Robert’s International Airport on Saturday February 12th signalled an important milestone for the recovery of Cayman’s tourism industry following the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Cayman once again open to regular international commercial travel, the resumption of the United Airlines service from Newark, Washington (Dulles) Chicago and Houston is the latest of the major carriers putting the destination back on their schedules.

“These hubs are critical to reestablishing stayover tourism in the Cayman Islands and we’re just very excited to be able to welcome four planes from United Airlines today,” was the official word at a welcoming ceremony at ORIA.

“It’s great to be back,” remarked one delighted passenger.

On hand leading the welcoming ceremony was Tourism Minister Hon. Kenneth Bryan, along with Deputy Premier Hon. Christopher Saunders, and Director of Tourism Rosa Harris.

Tourism Minister Bryan said: “Cayman is open for business. We are very happy to know that we have four flights from the United brand on one day, and it is a signal of the necessary steps to get Cayman back to where it needs to be, in respect of the tourism industry.”

The PACT administration has made a number of adjustments in line with global policy trends by relaxing several of the COVID restrictions.

“Hopefully, we will be making some more changes soon to make it even better. I’m happy from a global perspective that the world is learning how to live with COVID,” Mr Bryan remarked.

“We’ve been trying to get that delicate balance of safety and tourism and opening and freedoms so we can get back to where we need to be. It’s about putting Caymanians back in a profitable situation as the cost of living is really high and we need to make sure more income is in the hands of the people,” Mr Bryan added.

He again appealed to residents about the importance of getting vaccinated.

"Again I take the opportunity to say, ‘get boosted, get vaccinated Cayman.’ It’s the easiest way for us to be more confident with the safety-risk levels so we can add more and more passengers."

Deputy Premier Chris Saunders spoke about the government’s aim to balance safety with getting the tourism industry rolling again.

“It’s not just airlift,” he said, “but we want to get more hotels, get more rooms stock and everything else. Stayover tourism is one of the drivers of our economy and a lot of people depend on it for their livelihood.”

Min. Saunders also stated: “People must also appreciate that the government’s responsibility is to our people to make sure we are still a safe environment, so it has to be done, but it has to be done responsibly.”

The United Airlines flights from Newark and Washington operate on Saturdays and Sundays.

The service out of Chicago is initially on Saturdays, with Sunday to be added to the schedule from next month.

The flight from Houston which will be on Saturday only for the rest of this month will move to a daily schedule from March 4th.