Caribbean Airlines has recorded one of its busiest ever periods as Trinidad & Tobago celebrates the annual carnival season.

Between February 27th and March 13th the airline – which was recognised by the World Travel Awards as the Caribbean’s Leading Airline – carried more than 85,000 passengers.

This represents an increase of 18 per cent on the same period last year, and illustrates the continued strength of Caribbean Airlines followings its merger with Air Jamaica.

“During this period, if we take into account both our international and domestic traffic, the airline transported 85,808 customers with the total number for international traffic standing at 60,129 passengers,” said Laura Asbjornsen, head of corporate communications at Caribbean Airlines.

Traffic between Trinidad & Tobago also increased by approximately 1,000 passengers when compared to 2010.

“In 2010, Caribbean Airlines transported 24,768 passengers to Tobago, with this increasing to 25,679 passengers on the domestic route for 2011,” added Asbjornsen.

Caribbean Airlines received two ATR 500 aircraft, both of which entered service on March 4th, boosting capacity.

The aircraft are being wet-leased in the interim until the airline begins receiving its new ATR 600 aircraft, which are scheduled to begin arrival in October 2011.