ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

Press Release

The Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority is pleased to announce that Air Antilles Express inaugurated its bi-weekly service into Antigua & Barbuda today, Thursday, 19th December 2013. Air Antilles Express flight number 3S250, will fly into the V.C Bird International Airport (ANU), every Monday and Thursday out of Point-á-Pitre (PTP) for a short twenty-minute direct service into Antigua. The flight departs Guadeloupe at 4:30 pm and arrives in Antigua at 4:50 pm and then flight number 3S251 returns to Guadeloupe at 5:10 pm. 

The Air Antilles Express flight is a code share agreement with Corsair which originates from Paris, France with non-stop service into Guadeloupe, and is on ground for about an hour and a half before departing to Antigua.  The Corsair and Air Antilles service is a partnership with Promo Sejours, a French tour operator which has started to sell the destination from this winter.
This new flight will provide Antigua and Barbuda with alternative connection options to and from Guadeloupe, and the flight will be operated with a 48 seat ATR-42, with 30 seats allocated to the tour operator leaving 18 seats on open sale. 

This is excellent news for the destination, as interest in Antigua and Barbuda continues to be on the radar for new airlines; this also provides opportunity for enhanced connectivity into European target markets, and continues to display international confidence in the islands’ tourism product.

Marketing Manager of The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Charmaine Spencer, said, “We have seen great potential to grow the number of visitors from Guadeloupe, however it has been difficult to develop this market due to inconsistent access and expensive connections to the destination. The introduction of an alternative airline at a reduced cost should result in an increase in exchanges between the two islands over the next few months. Although the flight is only scheduled at present for the winter season, the aim is to create enough demand for Air Antilles Express to continue the service through the summer.”

The Honourable John Maginley, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation noted, “Any new airlift into the destination, especially within the Caribbean, with onward connectivity to our key source markets is always desirable and displays continued interest in our tourism product throughout the International community.”

This commencement of this new airlift follows marketing and promotion of the destination at the first, ‘Salon du Voyages Trade and Consumer Travel Show’, in Point-á-Pitre, Guadeloupe, which took place on Friday 22nd November to Sunday 24th November, 2013.  The premiere Travel & Trade Fair welcomed thousands of keen consumers through its doors throughout the entire weekend.  Antigua and Barbuda tourism partners had a successful showcasing of the destination, with the goal of re-introducing the destination to the French Antilles market, as well as to support the new airlift from Air Antilles Express originating out of Guadeloupe to Antigua.