Low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines launched nonstop flights from Atlanta to Montego Bay, Jamaica, and Cancun, Mexico, in early November, adding new international destinations 31 cities the Denver-based airline serves out of the massive hub.
Frontier has been growing its crew base at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which the airline says will include 400 flight attendants, pilots and ground staff within a year. The wages alone will add $28 million to the Atlanta economy annually, said Daniel Shurz, senior vice president for commercial, in a news release.
“We are always excited for increased opportunities for our partners, and Frontier’s augmented employee force brings an increased economic impact to our city, the state, and the entire southeast region,” said Balram “B” Bheodari, the airport’s newly appointed general manager, said in a statement.
The new thrice-weekly Jamaica flight, arriving just in time for the winter travel season, was met with fanfare before takeoff Nov. 1 at gate E6, with tourism representatives, diplomats and government officials from the country welcoming a new connection after a pandemic-induced lull in tourism over the previous 18 months.
“This additional airlift capacity between Atlanta and Montego Bay is great news for Jamaica’s tourism and economic growth,” the Jamaican honorary consulate in Atlanta, headed by Honorary Consul Elaine Bryan, wrote on its Facebook page in welcoming the flight. Hartsfield-Jackson in 2017 signed a sister-airports collaboration agreement with the Airports Authority of Jamaica.
In addition to being a popular air hub and cruise terminal, Montego Bay boasts one of Atlanta’s most active sister-city relationships, underpinned by decades of health care and educational collaboration since its establishment in 1972. The Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister Cities Committee undertakes an annual health mission in the name of Vin Martin, the late honorary consul who preceded Ms. Bryan, and has grown its generosity in the face of the pandemic.
In October, the committee donated medical supplies, including crucial medical oxygen worth $70,000, to Cornwall Regional Hospital and others in Montego Bay, while also sending 131 tablets and 26 laptops to help kids in 15 local schools engage in remote learning. The laptops were secured by the Washington-based Victoria House Foundation.
The Atlanta-Montego Bay committee also donated $5,500 worth of scholarships to medical students, a gesture that was likely on the minds of Jamaican officials at the consulate in Miami, who awarded the committee chair Yvonne Smith a diaspora award for health care at a Nov. 7 ceremony.
Even before this year, Dr. Smith and the committee were responding to the pandemic, “leading efforts to address food insecurity caused by the pandemic in both Atlanta and Jamaica and (helping) establish food distribution programs in Union City and the Metro Atlanta area throughout 2020,” according to the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of International Affairs, which congratulated Dr. Smith in its most recent email newsletter.
Frontier Airlines has increased its seat capacity at Hartsfield-Jackson, a Delta Air Lines stronghold, by 42 percent since 2019.
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