American Airlines doubling number of US gateways serving Barbados

American Airlines will be doubling the number of gateways out of the United States that serve Barbados, bringing the total to seven.

Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill made the announcement in a statement Saturday evening.

He said the increase represents the largest ever number of gateways from the United States servicing the Barbados destination at any time in history.

Here is the full statement from Minister Gooding-Edghill:

Consistent with the Ministry of Tourism and International Transport and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s (BTMI) aggressive strategy of increasing and improving Barbados’ airline connections with the rest of the world, I am pleased to announce the successful conclusion of another major airlift initiative.

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.

Winter 2024/2025

Effective November 05, 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.

Also, commencing November 09, 2024, 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.

Meanwhile, the BTMI USA office is committed to further pursing its marketing programme in the USA to ensure these new services remain viable and successful.

In addition, these new services will add to the attractiveness of the exciting BTMI “We Gatherin” campaign concentrated on the Barbadian diaspora.

History of strong partnerships

American Airlines’ first flight to Barbados was on November 01, 1975 on a Boeing 707 Flight 585 with 95 passengers aboard.

Today we continue to make history. I wish to thank the executives at American Airlines whom we met with in June  2023 during my delegation visit to the United States to start discussion on additional and new airlift to Barbados with several airlines.

I wish to publicly commend Mr. Peter Mayers, the BTMI Director for the US, and his team, for the role played in assisting me with the resumption and introduction of these various services.

These achievements are key components of our strategy designed to expand and restart routes in North America.

Thank you.

(BTMI)