Sunrise Airways Launches Flights To Barbados

Haiti-based Sunrise Airways has launched flights between Barbados and Antigua, further expanding its presence in the Eastern Caribbean.

Even though the bulk of their operations are out of Cap-Haitien (CAP), they are expanding its Antigua (ANU) hub, offering flights to a handful of Eastern Caribbean destinations. From Antigua, they operate flights to St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Martinique, St. Kitts, Santo Domingo, and now Barbados.

Sunrise will fly twice weekly between the two islands on Wednesdays and Sundays, further expanding connectivity within the region.

At the launch ceremony, Sunrise Airways CEO Gary Stone said:

“The arrival of Sunrise Airways to Barbados will strengthen commercial, tourism, and cultural ties while promoting economic growth and deeper integration across our Caribbean community as ‘One Caribbean,’

“This inaugural flight represents our commitment to offering efficient, reliable, and affordable travel options to Barbadian and Antiguan travelers, delivered with great Caribbean service onboard.”

These flights are operated with their smaller Embraer EMB-120ER Brasilias, seating 30 passengers. There’s quite a bit of competition on this route already, with other carriers such as interCaribbean, Caribbean Airlines and LIAT Air already fighting for their slice of the pie. During peak periods, Virgin Atlantic also operates inter-island flights between these two destinations.

Demand is obviously there as there has been a boom in regional entrants. However, I always wonder what the long term will look like, as there will always be a loser or two. For instance, Trinidad and Tobago based-Caribbean Airlines has been forced to scale back several routes within the region after failing to maintain profitability.

It seems the more successful carriers are managing these routes by using smaller aircraft, utilizing a mix of models such as ATR 42s, Embraer E145s, E135s and E120s, CRJ 200s, as well as combinations of lighter turboprop aircraft. Caribbean Airlines on the other hand has larger ATR 72-600s which seat up to 68 passengers, so it’s a bit harder for them to fill those birds adequately.

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