American Airlines has added two new services including a fresh route – Philadelphia to Barbados, from this year.
Tourism officials are pleased to see a stronger Winter 2024-2025 shaping up already.
Minister of Tourism Ian Gooding-Edghill today, Saturday, February 17, 2024, said:
“Today, I am pleased to announce that American Airlines will be doubling the number of gateways out of the United States that serve Barbados.
“This represents the largest ever number of gateways from the United States servicing the Barbados destination at any time in history, a total of seven.”
This announcement is a testament to the consistent efforts of the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc (BTMI) with their aggressive strategy to increase and improve Barbados’ airline connections with the rest of the world.
Busy hub Winter 2024/2025
The Minister explained via press release that effective November 5, 2024, American Airlines will be launching their daily nonstop service from New York, John F Kennedy Airport with a 737 aircraft with a capacity of 172 seats.
Then, four days later on November 9, American Airlines will launch a Saturday-only service from Philadelphia with their 190-seat A321 aircraft.
“These new seasonal services will now bring the total to seven gateways from the United States and represents the largest ever number of gateways from the United States servicing the Barbados destination at any time.
“The introduction of these new American services will increase the number of premium business class seats for passengers, in keeping with the Ministry’s strategic goals to enhance our visitor profile requests.
“My Ministry considers this resumption by American Airlines as a sure indication of the airline’s confidence in brand Barbados and the very strong demand for Barbados as a destination.”
Increased capacity for the US
These two new American Airlines services will increase the number of seats into Barbados by 35,000.
“Today’s announcement comes just over two weeks after I announced that Delta Airlines will provide a seven-day-a-week service from Atlanta, Georgia from November 21, 2024, and a once weekly (Saturdays only) service from New York commencing December 23, 2024, on a seasonal basis with a forecast of 30,000 seats from the USA market.
“The combined increased seasonal capacity of 65,000 seats will hold great potential for all the direct and indirect stakeholders in the tourism industry.
“The strategic resumption of the American Airlines JFK service is further evidence of the success of our ongoing programme to consistently grow the USA market.
“This further strategic approach to the expansion of a new gateway from Philadelphia is part of the incremental building of airlift from critical points within the United States to improve greater connections with Barbados for travelers from the USA market.
“The timing of this major announcement will give the BTMI a nine-month planning period to continue the vital promotion and marketing of these new routes well ahead of the 2024/2025 winter season.”
