United Airlines is boosting its flights to the U.S. Virgin Islands this summer.
In addition to daily flights from George Bush International Airport in Houston, United Airlines will once again serve Washington Dulles International Airport with daily service to St. Thomas this summer, and extend its weekly Saturday service from Newark to St. Thomas beyond the summer months, through September and October.
Following talks with United Airlines executives in Chicago this week, USVI Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty reported the carrier will increase its frequency of flights from Houston to St. Thomas during the summer season.
St. Thomas.
Nicholson-Doty, who attended the meeting with Governor Kenneth Mapp and members of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, said the daily flights will operate from June 8 to August 14 this year, an increase from four weekly flights last summer.
“United is reporting strong demand for the U.S. Virgin Islands and we look forward to the additional lift to the Territory, ” she said, noting that the airline thanked the destination for offering a product that appeals to its passengers, and that the goal for the Houston-St. Thomas service is year-round flights.
The Ritz Carlton, St. Thomas.
The US Virgin Islands has been showing solid growth, with stay-over visitor arrivals to the Territory up 4.3 percent last year compared with 2015, according to the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research.
Individually, the island of St. Croix registered a 6.5 percent increase and St. Thomas/St. John was up by 3.8 percent.
For the first two months of the year, stay-over arrivals were up by 4.5 percent over the same period last year, with St. Thomas and St. John reporting a 4.4 percent increase in arrivals while St. Croix was up by 5.3 percent.
See our list of the Best St. Thomas hotels.