Southwest Airlines Is Launching a Big Caribbean Expansion, With New Nonstop Flights to Aruba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, and Punta Cana 

The water along Eagle Beach has a luminous blue that seems to go on forever. In Montego Bay, the hills rise behind a sweep of resorts, beaches and old sugar-estate country. On St. Thomas, ferries leave the harbor for St. John, sailboats cross Pillsbury Sound and Magens Bay curves around one of the Caribbean’s most famous stretches of sand.

Next spring, all three destinations will become easier to reach from one of America’s fastest-growing cities, Caribbean Journal has learned.

Southwest Airlines is launching a major new Caribbean expansion, led by four Saturday-only routes from Nashville International Airport to Aruba; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

The airline is also adding Saturday service between Columbus, Ohio and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, giving another Midwestern market a nonstop connection to the Caribbean’s largest resort destination.

Most of the new Nashville routes are scheduled to begin March 13, including the flights to Aruba, Montego Bay and St. Thomas.

All five routes are built around the Saturday-to-Saturday vacation calendar, a format that works particularly well for resorts, villas and all-inclusive stays across the region.

The expansion gives Southwest a much larger Caribbean presence from Nashville while opening a new nonstop vacation route from Columbus.

Nashville Is Becoming a Caribbean Gateway

Nashville has spent years growing beyond its identity as a domestic business and entertainment destination. Its airport now connects Middle Tennessee with cities across Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and Southwest has become a central part of the airport’s international growth.

The new schedule pushes Nashville further into gateway territory.

From one airport, you will be able to fly nonstop on Southwest to several distinctly different Caribbean vacations: Aruba’s beaches and restaurants, Jamaica’s resort corridor, the U.S. Virgin Islands (and the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.)

Southwest already flies from Nashville to several warm-weather international destinations, including Cancun, Punta Cana, San Juan and Los Cabos. The four new routes create a broader network and give travelers across Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and neighboring states more choices that do not require a connection in Atlanta, Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Orlando.

Saturday-only service carries obvious limitations, particularly when a trip needs to begin or end on another day. Yet it aligns naturally with the way many Caribbean vacations are sold. Seven-night resort stays remain common, and a weekly nonstop can turn a complicated itinerary into one direct flight.

A New Nonstop Flight to Aruba

The Nashville-Aruba flight will connect Middle Tennessee with one of the Caribbean’s most reliable year-round beach destinations.

Aruba is a place where you can build an entire vacation around the sand. Eagle Beach is wide, calm and lined with low-rise resorts. Palm Beach has the larger hotels, casinos, restaurants and watersports. Arashi Beach brings you closer to the island’s northwestern end, with snorkeling, rocky desert terrain and the California Lighthouse nearby.

The island also gives you far more than a resort stay. You can drive into Arikok National Park, walk through San Nicolas to see its murals, have dinner inside a restored cunucu house or spend an afternoon exploring the limestone coves and cactus-covered interior.

Aruba’s hotel inventory has expanded significantly, with luxury names including the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Boardwalk Boutique Hotel Aruba and the Embassy Suites by Hilton.

The route will be especially helpful during late winter and early spring, when Aruba’s dry climate and location below the main Atlantic hurricane belt make it one of the region’s most dependable destinations.

Montego Bay Gets a Nashville Connection

Southwest’s Nashville-Montego Bay service puts Jamaica’s busiest tourism hub within a nonstop flight of Tennessee.

Montego Bay is the beginning of several possible Jamaican vacations. You can stay along the city’s resort corridor, head west toward Negril, travel east to the villas and historic resorts around Ocho Rios or turn into the hills for the cooler landscape of Jamaica’s interior.

Close to the airport, Half Moon has reopened its full resort experience, with the Eclipse section, Founders Cove, villas, equestrian center and the celebrated Sugar Mill restaurant. Round Hill Hotel and Villas, set west of Montego Bay, remains one of the island’s defining luxury hotels, with oceanfront rooms, private villas and Ralph Lauren-designed interiors.

Of course, there’s nothing quite like a Sandals vacation in the Caribbean’s and the all-inclusive leader has three remained resorts reopening this winter, too.

St. Thomas Opens Up the Virgin Islands

The St. Thomas route may be the most interesting addition in Southwest’s Nashville expansion.

Southwest only began flying to Cyril E. King Airport in February, marking the airline’s return to network growth and adding the U.S. Virgin Islands to its map. Nashville will now become another Southwest gateway to the territory.

St. Thomas can work as a complete vacation on its own. You can stay near the calm water of Secret Harbour, look across the harbor from the hills above Charlotte Amalie or spend the afternoon at Magens Bay. 

The island’s real advantage is the number of trips it can create.

A short ferry ride takes you from Red Hook to St. John, where two-thirds of the island is protected within Virgin Islands National Park. You can snorkel at Trunk Bay, hike the Reef Bay Trail, stop at the beach bars in Cruz Bay or stay at the Westin St. John Resort Villas.

St. Thomas is also a jumping-off place for the British Virgin Islands. Ferries connect the U.S. Virgin Islands with Tortola and Virgin Gorda, while charter boats can bring you to Jost Van Dyke, Norman Island and the smaller cays scattered through the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

Because St. Thomas is part of the United States, American citizens do not need a passport to visit. The route gives Southwest a compelling Caribbean product for families and less-frequent international travelers who want a tropical trip with fewer entry requirements.

Columbus Is Getting a New Punta Cana Flight

Southwest’s other notable Caribbean addition connects John Glenn Columbus International Airport with Punta Cana.

Punta Cana is made for nonstop vacation flights. Its airport is close to a vast collection of all-inclusive resorts stretching through Cap Cana, Punta Cana, Bávaro, Uvero Alto and Macao.

The best place to stay right now? The outstanding Lopesan Costa Bavaro, which just added three new resorts to its complex in Bavaro. 

Southwest’s Larger Caribbean Push

Southwest’s expansion comes as the airline adds more international flying from cities that have traditionally relied on connections for Caribbean trips.

The March schedule is also larger across Southwest’s network. The carrier plans more than 4,400 flights on several high-demand weekdays and more than 4,000 departures on Saturdays, traditionally one of the airline’s lighter operating days.

Caribbean flying is helping fill some of the difference.

Weekly flights may begin as a targeted seasonal product, but successful routes can grow. Airlines regularly test vacation markets with limited service before extending the season or adding frequencies. Strong performance from Nashville could support a larger Caribbean program in future schedules.

The immediate result is already big. If you’re in Nashville, you’ll soon be able to choose among Aruba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, Costa Rica, Punta Cana, Cancun, San Juan and Los Cabos on Southwest, creating one of the airline’s most varied warm-weather networks outside its largest traditional gateways.

Southwest is building its next Caribbean gateway far from South Florida — and Nashville is rapidly becoming one of the most important pieces of the airline’s regional map.

The post Southwest Airlines Is Launching a Big Caribbean Expansion, With New Nonstop Flights to Aruba, Jamaica, St. Thomas, and Punta Cana  appeared first on Caribbean Journal.