Skylan Airways, a new Jamaican-owned and operated domestic carrier, launched intra-island service between Kingston and Montego Bay.
Skylan operates the 30-minute flight with a 19-seat Jetstream 32.
The initial schedule calls for two roundtrip flights a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, according to Mark Foga, Skylan’s manager of operations.
The carrier is targeting corporate and government clients who need to travel frequently on business between the two cities, Foga said.
The first flight departs Kingston at 7:30 a.m., while the earliest departure out of Montego Bay is 8:30 a.m. The one-way ticket price is $89.
When a second Jetstream 32 is added to the fleet in September, Skylan said the schedule will increase to four roundtrips a day, six days a week.
Flights operate from the General Aviation Centre at Norman Manley Airport in Kingston and the new domestic terminal at Sangster Airport in Montego Bay.
By using the domestic terminals, passengers avoid the two-hour pre-departure requirement as well as the delays at the customs and immigration checkpoints at the international terminals, said Foga.
The SkylanMiles frequent-flyer program offers mileage points for Skylan tickets, hotel stays, car rentals and purchased items such as groceries, gas, clothing and telephone cards.
The commuter route was last served by Air Jamaica Express in 2005, when it carried more than 25,000 passengers per year, according to the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority. Commuter numbers dropped 31% in 2006 and have since declined to approximately 5,000 passengers per year due to the unavailability of domestic service, Foga said.
Air Jamaica offers several domestic flights a day out of the international terminals at Kingston and Montego Bay airports.
There also is daily Knutsford Express bus service between the two cities.