The arrival of United Airlines in the Virgin Islands this fall should bring in 195,000 visitors a year and generate $500,000 in jobs, a United official said Wednesday.
Maria Sastre, United's vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean, said at a Government House press conference with Gov. Charles W. Turnbull that the Virgin Islands is "a fabulous market" for the airline.
United will begin service to St. Thomas on Oct. 31, with one flight Saturday and one Sunday to and from Washington Dulles Airport and Chicago's O'Hare. Both routes will continue through April 30, 2000. United will shift to an off-season schedule with flights out of Chicago from May 6 to Oct. 29, according to the Daily News.
The airline will use Boeing 757 planes that seat 188 people and new AB 320's that seat 144.
Sastre said the United flights will attract "a very discerning customer, a high-end leisure customer, who is very interested in visiting this area of the Caribbean but is even more interested in visiting the Caribbean in a more direct way," Thursday's Independent said.
Sastre said fares would be competitive but declined to be specific.
