Dominica has two airports, Melville Hall Airport on the north east coast and Canefield Airport on the south west coast, just to the north of the Capital, Roseau. Neither of these are international airports, though Melville Hall Airport has the longer runway and can accommodate medium sized planes. The connecting leg of your journey will be on one of the inter-island carriers, from either San Juan in Puerto
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GETTING HERE from UK:- there are regular fights from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester to our neighbours, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados with British Airways, Britannia, BMI and Virgin. Most travel agents will quote fares of around £450 to £700 return depending on the season, though cheaper excursion fares may sometimes be found via Teletext, Cefax, Sunday Telegraph etc. and can be arranged over the phone using your credit card. Dominica is 4 hours behind GMT (5 hours behind BST). Flights generally leave London's Airports mid morning, arriving Antigua mid afternoon. Your connecting flight is usually arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35 minutes. Flights from UK are usually in the daytime and return flights are overnight. Try the Caribbean Reunion Club if booking your flight online or compare prices with travelsupermarket.com. Another option is to fly from either Orly orCharles De Gaul Airports in Paris to our nearest neighbouring islands, Guadeloupe or Martinique, which remain Departments of France. Consequently these are regarded as domestic flights and are often cheaper than those from London. Air France and various charters fly regularly, also giving you the opportunity to do some duty free shopping in France on your return.
If you would like to buy travel insurance without wishing to purchase this from your UK travel agent, check out this provider: Essential Travel - UK travel insurance
Even though Barbados is a little further away, there are often very cheap excursion flights on offer from the UK. Due to a weak US$, your £'s will now go much further.
GETTING HERE from EUROPE:- Paris is also a main point of departue for visitors from all over EUROPE. Depending on your arrival/ departure times from either Guadeloupe or Martinique you may prefer, instead of flying, to take the fast catamaran ferry to Dominica (max. sailing time 1hr. 45min). These do not, however, sail on every day of the week (see schedules below).
Due to a weak US$, your €'s will now go much further.
GETTING HERE from NORTH AMERICA:- the most frequent route used by visitors from USA is on American Airlines and their subsidiary, American Eagle via San Juan (their 'HUB' for the Caribbean and where you pass through U.S. customs). The cost of flight tickets for this option, however, can vary tremendously, depending on the time of year and how far ahead you book - AA policy seems to be to increase the fares as the number of seats available on any particular flight diminishes, so the earlier you book the better. As landing and take-off times at Dominica's airports are currently still limited to daylight hours, connecting times from some western States may necessitate an overnight stopover in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Worth noting - Air Liat also has late afternoon flights from Puerto Rico, so if you are travelling from the western States and arrive too late for a same day AA connection, you could book Liat instead for the final leg of your journey. Other options you may care to explore: charter flight destinations from the USA include Barbados, Grenada and St. Maarten and possibly our closer neighbours, Antigua and St. Lucia, though the connecting leg to Dominica will be on local (non U.S.) carriers, which U.S. travel agents seem reluctant to utilise. Air Canada has regular direct flights from Montreal to our nearest neighbours, Guadeloupe or Martinique (you can connect from Toronto at no extra cost). There are also direct flights from Toronto to Antigua from where your connecting flight is usually arranged on Air Liat and takes only 35 minutes.
If your agent can offer you an economy fare to any of our neighbouring islands, but is unable to arrange the connection to Dominica, then we will assist in arranging and booking this for our clients, for which there will be a 7.5% surcharge.
Caribbean Ferries is a new similar service introduced in late 2002.
Update - May 2005: Caribbean Ferries has gone bust and this service has been suspended.
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