By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Airline ticket bookings for Family Island travel between February and July 2025 would be up 12 percent year-over-year if George Town and the Bahamasair “hiccup” are not included, it was revealed yesterday.

Kerry Fountain, the Bahama Out Island Promotion Board’s executive director, told the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association’s (BHTA) first quarter meeting that the increase in airline ticket bookings to the Family Islands would be six times’ higher in percentage terms if the 16 percent fall-off in travel to Exuma was excluded.

He attributed the Exuma drop-off to a “loss of seats” associated with Bahamasair, at least temporarily, discontinuing its George Town service from Fort Lauderdale because it simply does not have sufficient aircraft to operate the route. Bahamasair has been struggling with Pratt-Whitney, the aircraft manufacturer, returning repaired engines to it on a timely basis, which has left up to two of its ATR aircraft grounded at the same time.

The temporary closure of Sandals Emerald Bay, for its conversion into a Beaches resort, may also have motivated some airlines to reduce seat capacity into Exuma. Still, Mr Fountain said airline bookings for Family Island travel, as measured by the Forward Keys consultancy, were still up year-over-year by 2 percent for the Promotion Board’s member properties during the period February to July 2025.

“As far as looking ahead, February through July of this year, future bookings from February through July are up 2 percent compared to the same period last year,” he explained. “This is a report from Forward Keys, so what we’re looking at is the amount of airline tickets sold by GDS (global distribution system) accessible carriers. This is something we tend to look at.

“If they are flying and coming in on a plane, they are probably staying at a hotel or some form of accommodation. We are using Forward Keys to give us a read as far as future trends. The months that are driving the average [2 percent increase] are February and April. April, of course, this year we know that Easter falls on the 20th or 21st [of that month] compared to March 31 last year.

“We’re up 2 percent for all islands,” Mr Fountain continued. “If we pull out George Town, and we’ve been having some hiccups with George Town simply because Bahamasair, as you all know, is short of a couple of aircraft, so they discontinued their Fort Lauderdale to George Town service. Which means we have less seats.

“If we were to pull GeorgeTown out of the mix, February through July would be up 12 percent. April is driving that. George Town, February through July, is down 16 percent and we attribute that to the loss of seats provided by Bahamasair.”

As for other Family Island destinations, Mr Fountain said data from Forward Keys showed airline travel bookings for Marsh Harbour for the period February-July 2025 were up 15 percent year-over-year with April alone some 40 percent up on 2024. North Eleuthera was up 7 percent, while Harbour Island was ahead by 15 percent and Governor’s Harbour ahead by 69 percent.

“We attribute that growth, that 69 percent increase, we attribute that to the American Airlines new service from Miami to Governor’s Harbour, which we didn’t have this time last year,” Mr Fountain said. Airline tickets sold to Bimini, meanwhile, were up 119 percent year-over-year.