Winair is Adding St Maarten-Montserrat Flights for Legendary St. Patrick’s Festival
It’s the biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration in the Caribbean: the annual St. Patrick’s Festival on the island of Montserrat, the self-styled “Emerald Isle” of the Caribbean.
The event runs from March 8 to 17, and the St Maarten-based carrier is adding flights to the island beginning Feb. 11, running through March 26.
Flights will run between St Maarten, Antigua and Montserrat every Tuesday and Friday until March 4, when service ramps up to daily flights.
The island is the only one outside of Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a national holiday, commemorating a slave uprising in 1768. It includes everything from soca and reggae concerts to street parades and pub crawls on the tiny island near Antigua.
Demand is “growing” for Montserrat during the St. Patrick’s celebrations, according to Premier Ruben Meade.
“We have actively engaged Winair, which has a strong track record of service to Montserrat, to help facilitate the movement of people and goods into and out of the island.”
The broader goal is to establish a more structured flight festival to Montserrat beyond Montserrat.