British Airways looks set to capitalise on Virgin Atlantic’s decision to pull out of St Lucia next summer with the addition of two extra weekly services to the island from London.
The new flights will operate for two months between 4 June 2020 and 29 August 2020, expanding BA’s scheduled direct service from Gatwick to St Lucia from seven flights a week to nine.
Flights will be operated by three-class Boeing 777 jets and will make around 600 additional seats available per week.
St Lucia’s tourism minister Dominic Fedee said BA’s commitment to the island would help “fill the void” left by Virgin Atlantic after it announced it would cease flying to St Lucia next June.
He added the island was working on several other marketing initiatives to boost arrivals from the UK.
Prime minister Allen Chastanet said BA’s decision vindicated the island’s efforts to grow visitor numbers from the UK.
Virgin said its decision to scrap its St Lucia route after more than 20 years followed a recent network review.
It has chosen instead to increase its Antigua service from three-times weekly to four-times weekly from 8 June 2020.
