By the Caribbean Journal staff

Delta Air Lines is planning a major Caribbean expansion out of New York City.

The carrier has announced plans to launch new flights to Nassau, The Bahamas, Kingston, Jamaica and Port-au-Prince, Haiti this year.

Delta is adding a second daily flight from New York to Nassau beginning Oct. 1; new daily nonstop service to Kingston beginning Dec. 20; and new Saturday-only service to Port-au-Prince beginning Dec. 22.

“No one better connects New York to the world than Delta,” said Chuck Imhof, Vice President — New York and Sales, East. “We offer our customers more flights to more destinations than any other airline and we’re excited to add more flights to the Caribbean to our strong network portfolio.”

Kingston.

This winter, Delta will be running up to 145 flights to the Caribbean each week, part of what has been a concerted push to expand its Caribbean network.

That comes as several other carriers have been ramping up their flights to the region, most notably Southwest Airlines, Spirit and JetBlue.

The Marriott Port-au-Prince

The flights are a particular boost for Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, which has been seeing increased airlift (Spirit announced an expansion to the city last week) and new hotel development, headlined by the $50 million Sandals-Marriott AC project.

The planned AC hotel project in Kingston.

Delta will be operating the Kingston flights on Boeing 737-800 aircraft with 16 first class seats, while flights to both Nassau and Port-au-Prince will be operating on Airbus A320 with 16 first class seats.

Delta is the largest carrier in New York.