Bahamasair (UP, Nassau International) will in 2014 concentrate on building its presence in the charter flights sector. The state-owned airline says the move will also help boost the island's tourism industry. The airline's senior manager for international sales, Woodrow Wilson, says the airline had in the past considered branching into the charter market but had been foiled by a lack of suitable aircraft. To remedy this, Wilson disclosed that later this month, an undisclosed 120-seater aircraft will be joining the airline with a wet-leased B737-400 from XTRA Airways (Fort Lauderdale International) scheduled for Summer 2014. “Group business can be very profitable, especially if you’re talking charters because there is a cost factor involved in charters. Once we establish a charter rate, there’s a revenue base for the carrier. In addition to that, group movements fill planes. That’s revenue and it grows from there,” he told the Nassau Guardian. The Bahamian national carrier operates an ageing fleet of two B737-500s and five Dash 8-300s throughout the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the United States. Since its inception in 1973, Bahamsair has been a perpetual millstone around Nassau's neck racking up almost USD500million in losses. According to ch-aviation pro schedule data, Bahamasair plans to use the B737-400 next summer to operate scheduled charter services from Freeport International to Baltimore International, Birmingham, AL, Cincinnati International, Columbus John Glenn, OH, Memphis International, New York Newark, Raleigh/Durham and Richmond International, VA.