American Airlines has launched its new destination in the Caribbean, providing direct air connectivity from the US to Bimini from the airline’s hub in Miami, Florida. The route is set to be operated thrice weekly, by the airline’s regional subsidiary brand, American Eagle, utilizing its fleet of Embraer jets, making this one of the shortest routes in the airline’s network.

The addition of Bimini to its route network increases the number of destinations American Airlines serves in the Bahamas from six to seven, signalling the importance of the market for the carrier.

Non-Stop From Miami To Bimini, Bahamas

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Yesterday marked the launch of a new route for American Airlines, a special moment as the first-ever nonstop service connecting the US with Bimini in the Bahamas. This makes Bimini the airline’s seventh destination in the Bahamas, which indicates the importance of this market for the airline.

The route is operated by American Airlines’ regional subsidiary brand, American Eagle, using its fleet of Embraer E175 regional jets to connect Miami International Airport (MIA) with Bimini Airport (BIM). The itinerary is as follows:

With a block time of less than an hour and a distance of just 56 miles between Miami and Bimini, this will be the shortest route within the airline’s network. The airline’s Managing Director of Operations for the region, José María Giraldo, commented the following,

“With the addition of our seventh destination in the Bahamas, we reaffirm our long-term commitment to the market.”

Miami – The AA Hub For The Bahamas & Caribbean

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While the airline does fly to the Bahamas from a number of its hubs in the US, the majority of its services are operated to and from the airline’s hub focused on the Bahamas and the wider Caribbean market, which is Miami. As such, it comes as no surprise that the airline operates flights to all seven of its destinations in the Bahamas from Miami.

Apart from Bimini, these are the other six destinations in the Bahamas that American Airlines serves, and, as per schedule data from FlightRadar24, the weekly frequency of services from Miami is as follows:

*Some of the services currently operated are seasonal.

Of all the seven destinations in the Bahamas, Bimini is the closest destination. Despite the one-hour block time, the actual flight to and from Bimini (based on recent flight data) is closer to 30 minutes. The farthest destination in the Bahamas is George Town, and the average flight time is usually under an hour.

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American Eagle And Their E175s

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While there are a number of different regional operators that fly on behalf of American Airlines using the American Eagle brand, when the route was announced last year, it was indicated that the airline’s services to Bimini would be operated by Envoy Air.

The American Eagle E175 jets are all configured to carry up to 76 passengers, split across two cabin classes. As per the airline’s fleet page, the aircraft is configured to carry 12 passengers in First Class in a 1-2 layout, and 64 passengers in economy in a 2-2 layout. However, of these 64 seats, 20 seats have extra legroom with increased seat pitch. These aircraft are currently undergoing cabin retrofits and upgrades.

Considering the airline operates multiple daily flights from Miami to the rest of its destinations in the Bahamas, it is possible that the airline will gradually increase its services to Bimini, at least on a seasonal basis. However, since this is a relatively new route and a considerably short flight, the airline will perhaps wait to evaluate how the route performs based on the current thrice-weekly frequency before making a decision.