TWA Will Fly Caribbean Routes Starting This Fall

Trans World Airlines said Thursday that it will begin serving destinations in the Caribbean beginning in the fall in an effort to keep its planes filled year-round.

C. E. Meyer Jr., the carrier’s president and chief executive, said the flights, which will start Nov. 15, will be between New York and San Juan, Puerto Rico. TWA will also serve St. Thomas and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas and St. Maarten, Antigua, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

TWA, he said, will also begin daily service between its St. Louis hub and San Juan at the same time.

The executive said that TWA was moving into an area of the world that it has never served in an effort to end the seasonal nature of its traffic.

“We think it’s going to solve one of our longstanding problems,” Meyer said. “As everyone surely knows, along with our many competitive strengths, we’ve suffered from one outstanding competitive disadvantage: a highly seasonal route structure and revenue curve to match. We fly like mad all summer, then have to follow the bears and possums into hibernation when winter comes.”

TWA earns most of its revenue from transatlantic traffic, for which summer is the busiest season. The airline had profits of $29.8 million last year. It reported a loss of $74.3 million in this year’s first quarter, traditionally one of its slowest periods.

Meyer said that TWA intends to add one or two Caribbean destinations each year as part of a five-year plan to develop the market and might later buy 20 planes.

In moving into the Caribbean, TWA will compete heavily with Pan American, American and Eastern airlines.

Commenting on TWA’s Caribbean move, Al Becker, a spokesman for American, said: “We have a very strong marketing presence there, and we are more than capable of competing with anyone on any terms.”

James A. Arey, a public relations man for Pan Am, said: “We are the dominant carrier now in the Caribbean . . . and we will undoubtedly further expand our operations as we have done in the last year.”

Times staff writer Tony Robinson also contributed to this article.