Sky’s The Limit For BermudAir After 100 Days
[Written by Stephen Wright]
Adam Scott, the BermudAir chief executive, believes the “sky’s the limit” for the island’s first airline after reflecting on its first 100 days since launching.
On September 1, BermudAir took to the air and is flying to three destinations – Boston, Fort Lauderdale and Westchester County Airport – with two leased aircraft.
“We’ve had a great first hundred days,” Mr Scott told Bernews. “It wasn’t without its excitement because of the various hurricanes. It tested us, but the team came through with flying colours.
“I’m very proud of how we handled those situations. The feedback has been almost universally positive thus far.
“We launched three routes in the first three weeks, which was a pretty miraculous feat. We delivered on our promise to Bermuda to connect the island to these destinations with a year-round service.
“We look forward to the next hundred days, delivering on the promise to provide something relevant and supportive to the island, both in terms of inbound and outbound traffic.”
The airline was originally meant to be all business class but pivoted to a more hybrid model.
It launched its Dual Class suites on December 1, with 14 business class seats and 52 economy seats. The plane used by the airline – an Embraer 175 aircraft – is fitted with 88 seats.
“We went from being an all-aisle seat service to launching with a standard interior, embracing and moving forward to the Dual-Class suites, having business and economy going forward,” the former Goldman Sachs banker said.
“Much of that was thrust upon us because of some supply chain issues [with seating pods], which we’ve had to work through.
“It’s also given us time to understand the opportunities in Bermuda and market demands.
“One of the recurring pieces of feedback we had was, ‘This is great right now, but we won’t be able to afford it when you go all business [class]’.
“The benefit of having a ‘soft launch’ is that we’ve learned what will make us relevant to individuals and businesses.”
BermudAir has already added charter flights to its services to meet the growing demands from sports teams, with Mr Scott believing it will help travelling teams avoid the irksome connections they have historically had to endure.
“We have accommodated several sports teams, bringing a couple of visiting teams to the island on a charter basis,” Mr Scott said.
“We also brought back Bermuda teams on our regular scheduled services. We’re working with various sports entities on the island to provide long-term support for their demands in moving athletes around.”
As for the next hundred days, Mr Scott added: “There are areas for improvement, and we’re learning each day.
“Hopefully, in the next hundred days, we will have ironed out a few of the kinks that naturally come with a start-up like ourselves.”
He said that plans for the immediate future include installing the pods for the 14 business class seats as part of the Aisle Class and having bookings available on Google Flights.
To celebrate the first hundred days of service, BermudAir has introduced one-way promo fares for the travel period ending March 31.
For more details, visit https://www.flybermudair.com/promo/100-days.
All the best for success. Flying into Westchester County Airport in the wintertime can be an experience!