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Delta Adds Additional Friday Service to Bonaire; United Maintains Houston September Service

Meetings at Routes Americas Result in Additional Service

Kralendijk, Bonaire – (March 24, 2014) - Commissioner of Tourism and Economic Development, Edsel Winklaar, and TCB Director Ethsel Pieternella announce today that Bonaire’s attendance at Routes Americas and subsequent negotiations with Delta and United have resulted in increased service to Bonaire from the U.S.

Delta will add an additional weekly service on Friday, effective August 22, 2014, providing Bonaire with a Friday-Saturday pattern for the fall and early winter. Delta will operate a 737-800 on the flight with 16 Business Class seats and 138 Coach seats. The schedule will be the same as on Saturday:

DL flight 663 depart ATL 9:45am arrive in BON 1:55pm
DL flight 662 departs BON 3:59pm arrives ATL 7:22pm

Through a market support agreement with United, the Houston flight will continue in September, providing uninterrupted service year-round. Both services have been added into the respective airlines’ systems.

“We are pleased that Delta sees the growth potential in expanding their service to Bonaire. Atlanta has historically been a good source market for Bonaire, as well as an important connecting point for the Southeast and the upper Midwest, said Commissioner Winklaar. “This year’s agreement with United reflects the success of our pilot program last year and the private-public sector initiative it represented,” he added.

Director of Tourism, Ethsel Pieternella, added, “This is the first significant expansion of service from a US carrier since the economic crisis of 2008. We will have to increase our marketing efforts and grow our markets commensurately in order to fill the additional seats. It will be a challenge, but I have no doubt that together we are up to the task.”

Getting to Bonaire

Delta operates a weekly nonstop flight to/from Atlanta on Saturdays. Starting August 22, 2014, Delta will operate an additional nonstop flight to/from Atlanta on Fridays.

United Airlines operates weekly nonstop flights to Bonaire from Houston, TX, and from Newark, NJ (the Newark flight is seasonal). The Houston flight departs on Friday afternoon, arriving Friday evening. The return flight departs on Saturday morning, arriving later that same day. The Newark flight departs on Saturday morning, arriving Saturday afternoon. The return flight departs on Saturday afternoon, arriving later that same day. (Additional flights have been added to the schedule through March; please visit United.com for information.)

Other flights from North America generally arrive in Curaçao or Aruba; Insel Air flies from Charlotte, NC, and Miami, FL, to Bonaire via Curaçao. Flights between Bonaire, Aruba and Curaçao are available on Insel Air and Divi Divi Air flies between Bonaire and Curaçao.

About Bonaire

Located 86 miles east of Aruba, the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire offers year-round sunshine, low annual rainfall, pristine coral formations and the most abundant fish population in the Caribbean. World renowned for scuba diving and snorkeling, it is also ideal for adventurers and explorers as it offers a myriad of eco-adventure activities from sea and mangrove kayaking to windsurfing or kite boarding and more. For those who want to kick back and relax, not having traffic lights on the island makes it easy to stroll into town or hop on a scooter or bike to peruse the island at their own pace. Accommodations range from full-service oceanfront resorts and condominiums to intimate guesthouses, small inns and private villas.

For 21 consecutive years in Scuba Diving magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Awards, Bonaire has been selected as the No. 1 Shore Diving destination in the Caribbean/Atlantic. This year, it received 10 awards. It was also voted No. 1 for Macro Diving and Beginner Diving in the Readers' Choice Awards and one of the the top dive destinations for 24/7 Diving in the magazine's Top 100 Gold List. Bonaire’s Marine Park was also named one of the Caribbean’s Best Places for Snorkeling by Frommer’s.

For more information on Bonaire, contact the Tourism Corporation Bonaire at 1-800 BONAIRE, email usa@tourismbonaire.com or visit Bonaire’s official web site at www.tourismbonaire.com. Follow Bonaire on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.