A biweekly charter flight from Newark, N.J., to St. Thomas and St. Croix has been canceled because not enough seats were sold.
The flights, organized by GoGo Tours, did fairly well during the Christmas holidays but after that came in more than half-empty, the Independent reported Friday.
"The response we got was so poor that we had to cancel the flights," said Wendell Snider, a St. Croix hotelier.
"The frightening message is we had GoGo, one of the leading tour operators, advertising very aggressively at very good rates, with a deep discount from the hotels, and we couldn't fill the plane once a week," Snider told the Independent. "That's terrifying. It speaks ill of the image of the territory."
GoGo, a leading travel wholesaler, was one of several new charters brought in by the Schneider administration to supplement existing airline service.
The others include Apple Vacations, flying from Chicago; Sunsail/Britannia, flying weekly from London; Fun Jet/Sun Country, offering a weekly flight from Minneapolis to St. Thomas and St. Croix; Conquest, flying from Toronto; and Dansk Vestindien Rejser, flying weekly from Copenhagen, Denmark, to St. Croix beginning Feb. 1.