Getting a flight to the Caribbean could be tougher this winter -- but not as tough as originally feared.

With the peak tourism season about to begin, a number of airlines are rushing in to take the place of American Airlines, which announced drastic cutbacks in January.

Air Aruba is starting service to Aruba from Philadelphia and Baltimore and expands service from Newark.

Continental on Tuesday adds service to Puerto Rico from Houston and expands service from Newark (from three to four flights a day). On Dec. 19, it inaugurates weekly Puerto Rico flights from Cleveland.

TWA on Thursday launches daily service to the Dominican Republic and near-daily service to St. Martin (both from New York). The airline also will add flights to Puerto Rico (from Boston) and the Bahamas (from New York) in February.

Sun Airways, a start-up airline based in Puerto Rico, launches Dec. 18 with flights to San Juan from Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. On Jan. 2, the carrier begins service from Dulles airport near Washington, D.C.

Prices? The cheapest fares to most of the islands this winter are running in the $500 to $600 range from the East Coast -- about the same as last year. Typical: $608, round trip, between New York and St. Lucia.

The additional flights don't completely make up for the cutbacks by American, the dominant airline in the Caribbean with nearly 75% of seats, says Richard Kahn of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. "Space still is going to be tight."

Since the January announcement, American has dropped 20 of its 60 flights a day from the U.S. mainland to San Juan, its Caribbean hub. American also has dropped jet service from San Juan to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua and Grenada and reduced service from San Juan to St. Martin and Aruba. Tempering declines: new flights to St. Lucia, Antigua and Grenada from Miami.

It could have been even worse for vacationers. "The plan was to cancel (jet) service to all of the destinations south of Puerto Rico," American's Horace Hord says.

Why the cutbacks? With travel booming worldwide and aircraft deliveries from manufacturers delayed, American is facing a shortage of planes, Hord says. The Caribbean, which draws very few high-fare business travelers, was a sensible place to begin cutting, he says.

Kahn says it took more than pleading from island governments to get American to stick around and for others to start up service. He says some islands paid airlines as much as $1 million to assure service. In many cases, islands "put aside a certain amount for marketing or guaranteed (the airlines) a certain amount of revenue."