Airlift to Antigua Increases

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Tourism News

Thursday, 10 January 2013 02:29

By press release

Antigua St. John's - Minister of Tourism John Maginley told Parliament on Tuesday that airlift to Antigua will increase this year, with two international airlines about to begin service.

According to Maginley, German airline Condor and Italian airline Blue Panorama have added Antigua to their scheduled flights this winter.

 “Condor will now be returning winter flights with no guarantee," Maginley said. "You never got them to come without a guarantee. Not only that, they are now flying a schedule. It’s no longer a charter.”
The tourism minister is also negotiating with the airline to add a second weekly flight.

He said, “Once we told them talk to Germans in Germany on the website and promote the flight, without giving them any money, they are prepared to look at the possibility of flying a second flight.”
Condor's contract with the government for weekly service ended in April 2011.

Maginley said Condor had demanded a guarantee of over US$1,000 (760 Euros) for every empty seat flown, and almost US$400,000 (300,000 Euros) in marketing support.

Meantime, there will be increased airlift from Italy from Blue Panorama airlines.

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Maginley explained, “We have a scheduled flight from Milan to Antigua that we don’t pay for. They are coming on the weekend. Our goal for the next year is to have a mid-week flight."

The tourism minister said Virgin Atlantic will also increase the number of flights to Antigua.

“Virgin will add a fourth flight in October. They will change from 747 to a smaller aircraft. The number of seats will be around the same, but it will be four flights instead of three,” he said.

The New Year will also see an increase in several flights out of Canada, including two Air Transat flights per week: 189 seats out of Toronto and 249 out of Montreal, and West Jet’s two weekly flights.

However, the tourism minister pointed out that the goal should not just be to increase airlift capacity to Antigua, but to increase the number of visitors who actually come. He said that data from as far back as 2003 indicated that only about three-quarters of Antigua’s total airlift is being used.

“When actual tourist arrivals are compared to airlift, the percent of seats used has never gotten about 78 per cent,” he said. “Why are we chasing more planes if we only use 78 per cent of our airlift? What we need is targeted airlift.”

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