A significant boost to the number of flights coming to the Island this winter is being welcomed by the Bermuda Tourism Authority.

The 14 per cent increase in airline capacity between January and March 2016 means 14,000 more available seats than the same period last year.

The move follows a major drive to boost air arrivals that has seen BTA representatives meet with all the major airlines in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. Bill Hanbury, the BTA’s chief executive, told The Royal Gazette the increase could provide new opportunities in the coming months, but required everyone to buy into making the Island a winter destination.

“We have taken a lot of heat because air arrivals are not going in the right direction,” he said. “In December 2014 and January, February and March of this year we lost in the region of 21,000 seats in air capacity.

“We have done everything we can to get that capacity back up. This issue affects everyone on the Island, not just tourists, but residents and also international business.

“We cannot be successful from a tourism perspective if we have reduced airlift capacity. This increase is good news but we have to ensure we are offering affordable accommodation with proper amenities in these winter months, and make sure there are entertainment options, too.

“If we don’t do a good job the airlines will take these extra services back.”

This winter United Airlines will fly from Newark three times a week, after cancelling its winter service last year. Additional American Airlines airlift means the airline will fly twice daily from JFK, six days per week.

The airline’s Philadelphia flight will fly more often than last year and on a daily basis in December. Delta has also bolstered its Boston service and will provide an extra flight per week.

Since May BTA representatives have had several meetings with stakeholders in international business and airlines. They have also conducted surveys within the industry. This month they met with officials from American Airlines in Dallas, JetBlue and British Airways.

Mr Hanbury added: “We have tried to reach out to all the airlines to see how we can boost capacity not just in the US and Canada, but also the UK. We have spoken with Virgin and Thomas Cook and also held meetings with British Airways about the quality and affordability of service. We have had a very positive response so far.”

Aaron Adderley, the manager at LF Wade International Aiport, said that if the new flights did well it could prompt additional flights in the future.

“Airlines look to align capacity with demand by putting their planes where people want to go,” he added.

“They have responded to Bermuda’s reduced passenger numbers over the past few winters by redeploying aircraft to more profitable, peak-season routes in the Caribbean.

“Though the number of flights reduced year over year, the number of passengers remained stable, which meant that load factors were stronger — there were more passengers per flight.

“So that improvement in overall performance has helped bring about the additional American flight from JFK while, of course, securing the return of the Newark service was critical for both business and leisure.

“However, even with the reduced flights last winter and the stronger overall performance, we still had over 50,000 seats that remained unfilled, so there is plenty of capacity available for our tourism partners to grow visitor traffic.”