The Annual World Routes Conference which took place September 20-23, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois was a successful event for Bonaire! The Bonaire delegation, headed by Commissioner of Tourism Edsel Winklaar, included Ethsel Pieternella, Director of Tourism, and Candice Adams Kimmel, the TCB Representative in North America, held substantive discussions with the largest number of carriers ever signed up to meet with the island. Representing all three of Bonaire’s source markets, the carriers with which meetings were held included AZUL, COPA, LANTAM, KLM, Delta, United, JetBlue, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, WestJet and InterCaribbean Airways.
The Bonaire delegation presented current performance data to carriers from Bonaire’s North American and European markets and provided key excerpts from the South American Market Analysis from ASM Global to the carriers from Latin American. The traffic and yield forecast from the new study really got the attention of the Latin American carriers and put Bonaire at a level above other destinations being evaluated for service.
Since returning from the event, advanced negotiations for additional capacity from Delta and United have taken place. Delta has confirmed the operation of their second flight through peak season. United has agreed to enter into a market support agreement for the Houston flight in September.
World Routes is the premiere route development forum for the entire world. There are over 300 carriers and 3,000 tourism and airport delegates representing 110 countries in attendance. There are over 10,000 pre-arranged meetings between the carriers and destinations. The next World Routes will be held in Durban, South Africa, September 20-22, 2015.