Jamaica Is Confused, Thinks It’s Getting Emirates Flights

This is kind of hilarious. Authorities in Jamaica have claimed that Emirates is launching flights to the country. Emirates denies that it’s launching flights to Jamaica. Authorities in Jamaica have responded to Emirates by essentially claiming the airline doesn’t know what it’s talking about…

Jamaica Tourism Minister touts new Emirates flight

Yesterday I came across a story on Facebook about how “Emirates Airline connects Jamaica to Middle East.” I remembered that it was April Fools’ Day, so I figured it was a joke… but then I saw that the story was actually published on March 27, 2025. Huh?! As the story explains:

New flights out of Dubai to Montego Bay will see Jamaica even more connected to the Middle East. On April 10 the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay will welcome its first Emirates Airline inbound flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The flight will kick-start a weekly schedule of Emirates Airline aircraft arriving and departing Jamaica via Frankfurt, Germany. Emirates will operate the route with a Boeing 777-300 aircraft.

So I then found the below clip of a recent interview with Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, talking about this service. In it, he says things like:

• “After five years of working on breaking through the Middle East market, MENA countries, and GCC countries, and finding a getaway to India, Emirates, the largest airline in the world, will fly to Jamaica from Dubai through Frankfurt”
• “This is a big achievement for Jamaica, five years ago we went and met with the chairman of Emirates, and at that meeting, we had an understanding that there would be a basis to make Jamaica the hub for the region”
• “The flight will arrive on the 10th at 6:55PM, and it’s a 777-300 aircraft which brings 400 to 500 passengers”

Emirates & Jamaica disagree about new flight

It’s not clear to me whether authorities in Jamaica are just confused, or are intentionally misleading the public to score some points. While the claim was initially that Emirates will operate a 777 once weekly, in reality, it looks like the idea is simply that Emirates will be codesharing with Condor on this flight (Condor doesn’t have 777s). Bartlett mentions the 6:55PM arrival time, which is the same time that the Condor flight arrives.

Sure, Condor and Emirates may have a partnership, but to suggest that there’s going to be any meaningful traffic on this flight originating in the Middle East is sort of laughable. Like, if you wanted to fly from Montego Bay to Dubai in one stop, there were already plenty of options, with more than once weekly service.

For that matter, it’s not even clear to me that there’s a codeshare agreement here. The flight isn’t bookable through Emirates’ website, and on Condor’s website, it seems to be an interline agreement, and not a codeshare. Condor’s flight in the market is already operating, so I’m not sure what exactly is reportedly starting next week.

But this is also where the situation has gotten even funnier. In response to all the media attention of Emirates launching flights to Montego Bay, a spokesperson for Emirates has reached out to multiple media outlets in the country, stating that there are “no official plans in place to start flights to Jamaica,” and that “while we continuously evaluate opportunities to enhance our network and serve new markets, any official announcements regarding new routes or services will be communicated through our official channels.”

When Bartlett was asked about this statement from Emirates, he responded by saying that maybe the spokesperson wasn’t fully aware of the details of the arrangement between Emirates and Jamaica. So the sentiment among the public seems to be “I guess we’ll find out next week who is lying.”

Bottom line

Jamaican authorities claim that Emirates is launching once weekly service to Montego Bay next week, via Frankfurt. Emirates denies this. In reality, Condor already flies to Montego Bay, and does have a partnership with Emirates, but that isn’t going to create any substantial amount of traffic between the regions.

It’ll be interesting to see what the response in the country is next week, when this highly anticipated flight launches (or something).