In the control tower 85 feet above the runway at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, a familiar scene played out shortly after noon on Friday.
After a brief exchange squawked over the radio, Air Traffic Control Officer Miguel Castro told the American Eagle pilot the words he was waiting for.
“Eagle Flight 4784, copy clearance; 4784 is cleared to San Juan via direct St. Thomas route,” Mr. Castro said. Seconds later, the 72-passenger plane lifted off the ground en route to Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico.
Air traffic controllers have similar exchanges — with American Eagle flights 4781, 4776, and 4795 — every day. This will change soon.
The carrier, which has the largest seating capacity of any airline on the route between San Juan and Beef Island, is scheduled to cease operations at the San Juan hub on March 31, according to Laura Masvidal, a spokeswoman with American Eagle.
The turbo-propelled planes that fly the route, ATR-72s, are leased, and they are being returned to their lessor as part of the bankruptcy of American Eagle’s parent company, American Airlines, Ms. Masvidal explained.
American plans to continue serving many of its Caribbean routes from Miami, the spokeswoman said, adding that the carrier will stop directly serving Dominica and the VI.
Denniston Fraser, the managing director of the BVI Airports Authority, said Friday that the loss of the 256 seats each day between San Juan and Beef Island that American Eagle currently provides will partially be made up by two smaller carriers: Cape Air and Seaborne Airlines. Combined, those carriers plan to supply 187 seats daily along the route, Mr. Fraser said.
“We’re just losing about 70 seats, most likely,” he said, adding that additional flights per day with smaller planes could reduce layover times in San Juan for passengers bound for the mainland United States.
See complete coverage in the March 21, 2013 edition.
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