AIA makes history with three AA aircraft in SVG

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) celebrated an history occasion when three American Airlines aircraft flew to the main island on Saturday, December 7, 2024.

The rainy start to the Saturday morning could not have dampened the warm greetings received by passengers from Vincentians who were there to witness the historic event, and welcome their family members for the Christmas season.

It was the first that SVG received a flight from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport through American Airlines (AA).

Speaking with the Agency for Public Information (API) after flight AA3037 arrived at AIA, Bianca Porter of the SVG Tourism Authority, shared that there were two American Airlines flights already landed- one from Charlotte, North Carolina, the other from Miami, Florida.

“It’s on the ground right now, and a little later, we’ll have a flight out of JFK- American Airlines again into AIA,” she said as she commended Charlotte, dubbing it “an excellent hub” as she explained that individuals have the opportunity to fly from the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, to Charlotte, USA, and then to AIA.

“So it’s really exciting to have this increased airlift. We have more room stock now, so, certainly we can accommodate more persons and we want to make it as seamless as possible flying into St Vincent and the Grenadines,” the Tourism Authority chair noted.

Porter also expressed pride that these two flights were flown in by Vincentians, Tevin Da Silva, the Second Officer, who helped land the AA885 flight out of New York, John F Kennedy International Airport; and Captain Rochelle Roache-Lanza, who was the first woman to successfully land an American Airline Boeing 737-800 aircraft at the AIA in December, 2023, and was on Saturday, guiding the AA3073 flight out of North Carolina.

Speaking with the Agency for Public Information (API), Roache-Lanza shared her appreciation for the welcome, and said she was humbled by everything.

“It’s always home when I get here,” she commented.

The pilot said the flight to AIA was comfortable “as American Airlines thrives to do safe, comfortable [flights] and make our passengers happy”.

In response to a question, she encouraged others who have an interest in aviation to never give up, and challenged them to aim to do even better than she has.

“It is an exciting career, you would see a lot of things and experience a lot of things, and go lots of places….You can do what I do, do better than what I have done. Reach out to me, I’m on Facebook. I’ll be able to help anyone that wants to move forward in this career,” the captain stated.

Da Silva, who was born in Kingstown and raised in Brighton, said he was speechless after he landed the aircraft, and that he only knew about helping to man the flight just one week ago.

Porter gave Roache a plague from the Tourism Authority, while Da Silva received a gift bag, also from the Authority.

There were several arriving locals among the passengers, one of whom shared that they had not been to St Vincent for Christmas since prior to 2000, and was therefore looking forward to what this year has to offer.

The Charlotte flight AA3037 left North Carolina’s Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 9:44 a.m and arrived at 2:33 p.m at the AIA, 24 minutes earlier than the scheduled 2:57 p.m arrival time.

Flight AA885 left JFK, New York at 10:02 a.m, two hours, and two minutes later than the scheduled 8:00 a.m departure time, but arrived at AIA at 3:04 p.m.

AA1159 flight out of Miami International Airport left Florida at 10:04 a.m, arriving at AIA at 1:56 p.m, 44 minutes earlier than the scheduled arrival time of 2:40 p.m.