Visitors to Martinique and Guadeloupe can take direct or nonstop flights from New York this winter. The service is on Minerve Airlines, a French charter company that has been flying to the French Caribbean islands from Paris.
Round-trip flights leave Kennedy Airport on Saturdays at 2:30 P.M., arriving in Fort-de-France, Martinique, at 8 p.m. (local time; the islands are one hour ahead of Eastern standard time) and continue to Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, for a 9:30 arrival. On Sundays the same timetable is followed, but the nonstop goes to Guadeloupe, continuing to Martinique. Flights to New York leave, on Saturday, from Guadeloupe at 8 a.m. and Martinique at 9:30 a.m.Most of the seats are being offered in conjunction with seven- and eight-night packages that combine hotel accommodations with the flight for $699 to $999 a person.
Reservations: French West Indies Sales Information Center, 212-986-5092. Travelers on other airlines from New York must change planes in Miami, or San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Martin and other islands.