Port of Spain's Piarco airport a new regional hub? That is Caribbean Airlines' ambition
The Caribbean region does not have many airport hubs on the same scale as the huge ones in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The region being made up of disparate island groupings, with no obvious central point, a series of smaller hubs, pioneered by the likes of the now defunct British West Indies Airways (which was based in Port of Spain, Trinidad), and the dead but resurrected (just this month) LIAT, were more appropriate.
The main exception is the Copa Airlines hub at Panama, which has a broader scope and effectively connects many cities from southern Canada right down to northern Argentina.
Caribbean Airlines emerged out of BWIA's demise to become the largest Caribbean regional airline, and its CCO perceives an opportunity for Port of Spain's Piarco Airport to become the major hub for that region again.
While its ultimate scope to do so may be tempered by Copa's presence 2,000km or so to the east, the airport benefits from commercial activity in the locality that is greater than on other islands. Further, there is the development of an airport city, in addition to the stock position of tourism-related business, and all the trade that goes with that, including oil-related business.
As such, and while it will never be a 'Caribbean Singapore', it offers numerous advantages to incumbent and future airlines that rivals do not.
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