In a significant development, American Airlines has announced plans to launch new nonstop flights to a pair of Caribbean destinations: Anguilla and Dominica. 

Crucially, will be the only nonstop flights from the United States to either destination, broadly opening up the islands to a new level of tourism. 

Both Anguilla and Dominica have heretofore only been reachable via small regional aircraft or ferries. 

That’s now changing, with both flights set to launch in December. 

“We have been strategically growing our route network to give customers more choices to new destinations, better meeting the demand for travel to Miami, the Caribbean and Latin America,” said Juan Carlos Liscano, Vice President of MIA Hub Operations. “As American’s largest international gateway, we are proud to continue to strengthen our presence at our Miami hub, reaching pre-pandemic levels of flying this year.”

On Dec. 8, American will kick off nonstop service from Miami to Dominica; on Dec. 11, the carrier will launch service from Miami to Anguilla. 

Both routes will be operating on American’s Embraer 175 aircraft, and both routes will operate twice weekly, with service on Wednesdays and Saturdays. 

The Miami-Dominica flights will take about three hours. 

“We are delighted that American Airlines will be inaugurating a twice-weekly, scheduled service to Anguilla this winter,” said Anguilla Tourism Minister Haydn Hughes.  “The introduction of direct service into Anguilla from the US mainland is a goal we have long been working towards, and we are thrilled that our efforts have now borne fruit.  This is a tremendous vote of confidence in our destination, as American Airlines has the equipment and the route network that will enable us to significantly increase our arrivals and further develop our tourism product.”

— CJ