JetBlue Launches Daily Fort Lauderdale-Barbados Flights

By Alexander Britell

The Caribbean’s fastest-growing airline has added another new route.

JetBlue Airways launched its new daily flights between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport on Thursday.

The new flights were first announced at the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Industry conference in Curacao last year.

The inaugural flights was marked with a water salute in Fort Lauderdale and festivities including an appearance by Miami Dolphins cheerleaders.

Above: Crane Beach in Barbados

JetBlue has been flying to Barbados since 2009, beginning with flights from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport.

More recently, JetBlue launched its new Mint premium cabin service on its flights to Barbados out of Boston, after having launched the service on New York-Barbados flights last year.

Above: Barbados’ Platinum Coast

Barbados has seen a surge in tourism arrival numbers, with record-breaking numbers and one of the Caribbean’s highest growth rates in 2015.

“Barbados is one of JetBlue’s most important markets,” JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said at the launch event in Fort Lauderdale. “We’re just going to keep growing and growing.