This news comes on the heels of British Airways recent announcement that Britain’s high air passenger duty (APD) was driving it to cut its Caribbean routes from 2012.

Speaking earlier this week at the official opening ceremony of the Jamaica Product Exchange JAPEX Tourism Trade Show at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, Minister Bartlett said a number of new Latin American and European based airlines are slated to begin flying into Jamaica before the end of this year.

Minister Bartlett said the expressions of interest by airlines from Europe and Latin America were a strong signal that Jamaica was poised for an influx of business that would flow from these areas.

Bartlett stated that “airlift is the centrepiece of our efforts to get visitors to the island and we continue to build partnerships with airlines across the globe starting with Copa Airlines on December 11, then Satena, which will fly from Colombia to Jamaica, as well as Look Voyages which will reconnect Jamaica to France for the first time in many years. Fifty thousand additional seats have also been added out of Canada, over the figure for last winter bringing the total to some 300,000 seats from that market in addition to 700,000 out of the North American market.”

The Minister expressed delight at the introduction of the new Copa flights into Jamaica noting that “Copa Airlines will connect Jamaica to 58 cities across North, South and Central America.”

Commenting on the upcoming Winter Tourist Season which starts on December 15, Minister Bartlett underscored that “we have already secured over 1-million airline seats which will allow Jamaica to continue to grow its arrival figures at a pace which will not only bring wealth and credibility to the destination, but also ensure that this beautiful country remains the number one destination in the Caribbean.”