By Alexander Britell
JetBlue is relaunching two of its more popular Caribbean routes for the upcoming winter season, both to islands making a comeback from Hurricane Irma.
The carrier will be relaunching nonstop flights from Boston to St Thomas and from Boston to St Maarten, both of which will operate daily.
The relaunched service will resume on Feb. 14, 2019, well-timed for the islands’ tourism comebacks.
“We are very excited to resume service on these popular routes in the Caribbean as they continue to recover from the hurricanes and prepare to welcome visitors back to their beautiful shores,” said Giselle Cortes, director of international airports for JetBlue. “We remain committed to helping the Caribbean region recover by continuing to increase capacity as demand returns.”
St. Thomas.
Both routes will operate seasonally as both St Maarten and St Thomas look to return to tourism stability next winter.
Of course, St Thomas has already had a strong return, with major reopenings from the beloved Bolongo Bay resort to the Marriott Frenchman’s Cove.
The Bolongo Bay Beach Resort in St Thomas.
Of course, the Boston service comes as the vast majority of flights to St Thomas from other cities have already relaunched on most major carriers, while new flights have been added in the spring and summer.
St Maarten has seen several properties reopen on the Dutch side, while the French side will soon see the return of one of the island’s signature resorts: the Grand Case Beach Club.
JetBlue’s return happens to coincide with the planned reopening of the Dutch side’s most famous hotel, the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, while the Sonesta Ocean Point will have already been open for several months at that point.
JetBlue also announced it would be launching new Saturday Mint service to St Maarten from Boston in February 2018 as well.
The Mint expansion comes as JetBlue just announced a wave of new Mint flights, including on Boston-Saint Lucia flights and New York-Costa Rica flights.