KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will double Winter 2024/25 flights to Port of Spain, Trinidad, showing confidence in Destination T&T. From October 27, KLM will fly six times a week from Amsterdam (AMS) to Port-of-Spain (POS) via Sint Maarten (SXM), up from three.
The triangle route runs daily except Saturdays until March 28, 2024, with altered flight times.
After almost 30 years, the AMS-POS service returned in October 2021 and has performed effectively.
The route is popular with nationals, Benelux visitors, Asian visitors, and passengers connecting to other Caribbean and South American destinations at Piarco International Airport.
Overall load factors have risen. Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell stated the service has a 75% load factor in 2022 and 80% in 2023. From January to March 2024, the average load factor rose to 92%.
KLM allocates up to 60% of its 293 Airbus A330 seats to Trinidad and 40% to Sint Maarten on the AMS-POS route. A 92% average load factor means 161 seats are filled for Trinidad. KLM increased service to five weekly flights during Carnival this year but returned to three-times weekly.
On Monday, Mitchell told Guardian Media that he and his colleagues met with KLM authorities in the Netherlands in January 2023 to request a service increase. The airline said the route ‘performed above their expectations’. Mitchell says as it grows, the airline “has seen it fit to place additional services on this route”.
