The Caribbean has been courting tourism from the United Arab Emirates for years — including a big push at Expo Dubai this year. 

And now one Caribbean Tourism Minister wants to actually make a UAE-Caribbean air route a reality. 

Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says he has initiated discussions with representatives of Emirates Airlines with the aim of introducing what would be a very unique flight between Dubai and Jamaica. 

Bartlett said the timeline could be as soon as “early next year.”

“We agreed to explore the feasibility of arranging this flight, details of which are to be worked out as soon as possible,” Bartlett said. “There was also a productive discussion around tourism and airline recovery prospects and the positive V-shape pattern being experienced by Jamaica and Dubai.”

Emirates has in the past operated a nonstop flight to Fort Lauderdale, meaning nearby Jamaica is not out of range. 

The Dubai-Fort Lauderdale flight took about 16 hours. 

Bartlett says he anticipates more talks in the context of “multi-destination strategies being formulated in the northern Caribbean to enable a more fulsome engagement of the Emirates and other partners in the Middle East.”

Emirates operates more than 3,600 flights each week around the world. 

— CJ