brent.pinheiro@guardian.co.tt
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines continues to show confidence in Destination T&T with plans to double flights to Port of Spain, Trinidad, for the Winter 2024/25 season.
Starting October 27, KLM is set to fly six times weekly, up from three times weekly, from Amsterdam (AMS) to Port-of-Spain (POS) via Sint Maarten (SXM).
The triangle route continues every day except Saturdays until March 28, 2024, with adjusted flight timings.
The AMS-POS service has been performing well since its re-introduction in October 2021 after an absence of almost 30 years.
The route has proven popular with nationals, visitors from Benelux region and from Asia, as well as passengers utilising the Piarco International Airport to connect to other parts of the Caribbean and into South America.
Average load factors have steadily increased. Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell said in 2022, the service recorded an average load factor of 75 per cent and 80 per cent in 2023. From January to March 2024, the average load factor has seen a further increase to around 92 per cent.
When KLM operates its Airbus A330 on the AMS-POS route, it allocates up to 60 per cent of the 293 seats to Trinidad and 40 per cent to Sint Maarten. A 92 per cent average load factor represents approximately 161 seats are filled for Trinidad. Earlier this year, KLM temporarily increased service up to five weekly flights during the Carnival period but resumed a three-times weekly schedule shortly afterwards.
On Monday, Mitchell told Guardian Media that he and his team advocated for an increase in service in January 2023 when they met with KLM officials in the Netherlands. At the time, the airline expressed satisfaction with the route’s performance saying that it ‘performed above their expectations’. Mitchell says since then the airline “has seen it fit to place additional services on this route” as it experiences growth.
