US Airways will begin flying Saturdays-only non-stop from Boston to St. Thomas on Dec. 19, the Tourism Department announced this week. The flights will run through April 23.
"It opens up a lot more opportunity for travelers from the East Coast to get away in the winter," said Allegra Kean-Moorehead, communications director at the Tourism Department.
This is a new route for US Airways, which currently flies to St. Thomas’ Cyril E. King Airport from Charlotte, N.C., and Philadelphia.
The carrier will fly A319 aircraft from Boston, which hold a maximum of 120 passengers, Kean said.
American Airlines also runs November to March flights from Boston, Kean said.
The Tourism Department will spend $25,000 to help advertise the new flights.
In addition, the Tourism Department has earmarked $1 million for television ads running June through December, with US Airways as the call to action.
"At the end of the ad, it will say ‘to book a trip, call US Airways,’" Kean said.
US Airways has committed more than $100,000 to the cooperative marketing program to support this and other US Airways flights to the territory. The campaign includes print advertisements in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe and Charlotte Observer, an appearance by the Virgin Islands as the "featured destination of the month" in the airline’s in-flight magazines on all domestic and international routes, digital banner advertisements and consumer and travel agent e-blasts.
Additionally, the Tourism Department will host a travel agent reception and media dinner in Boston in December to support the new service, followed by a familiarization visit for a group of key US Airways travel agent suppliers and top-tier journalists in early January.
"We are excited to welcome new non-stop service from US Airways that will provide additional capacity and options for travelers to visit the territory this winter," Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty said in a press release. "We remain committed to supporting our airline partners and finding ways to ensure continued and increased airlift in the current economic environment."
