Air lingues to Barbados.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2021/10/ae ... os-unidos/

embraer175e2 wrote:

Air lingues to Barbados.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2021/10/ae ... os-unidos/

Indeed. Aer Lingus' new service to Barbados will bolster the capacity from Manchester (alongside VS) and VS' own upcoming EDI-BGI will further increase UK-Barbados capacity this winter season.

Here's hoping the demand is there to sustain these flights into Barbados at this time.
Certainly the removal of protocols as mentioned in an earlier post will go a long way in increasing arrivals as the current system, while not impossible, is still a great inconvenience for holidaymakers maximizing their time in the sun, sand and sea.

Cheers,
AA1818

Iberia 13 times weekly to santo domingo with a330-300.

https://www.aviacionline.com/2021/10/em ... ominicana/

windian425 wrote:

BGI definatley needs a bumper winter season this year to kickstart any recovery from the C19 impacts. It's not over yet but today the arrival protocols into BGI were further relaxed to allow fully vaccinated travelers avoid any arrival testing or quarantine. In my estimation, this is aimed at preserving the Tourism industry and sending a message to the locals to get vaccinated. The world must move on and the pent up demand is real.... Look at St. Lucia who are also planning for a big winter season despite over 200 C19 deaths with a population of only 182k.

2020 was about C19 with no vaccines and a scanty notion of what the disease was and how it spread. 2021 we have vaccines, a better notion of spread and better treatment regimens if people are hospitalized. What we are now discovering is that the places that locked down most tightly (POS/TAB and SKB/NEV) arent doing much better in terms of disease spread, though they are among the best in CARICOM in vaccinating their people. ANU and BGI are also doing well.

C19 isnt going away and people will have to adjust to the fact that economies must recover because most Caribbean gov'ts saw a 30%+ decline in revenues so xan no longer support the assorted economic stimuli and social support programs.

Its looking like BGI should do well out of the UK, and now that it has relaxed its quarantine requirements the USA should improve though Canadians do not seem to be traveling. Jamaica, ANU are at record levels in their US arrivals and are seeing improved air access. SLU is also doing very well out of the USA despite its community spread of C19.

Intra regional travel looks like it will remain depressed so I do not know how that helps regional carriers. The best recovery seems to be in the leisure sector ex USA and Europe. Not sure if the UK will move to lockdown as the British are really tired of it, and being a well vaccinated population might be able to weather the surge.

What folks need to understand is that C19 is with us and is not going away in the near term. The emphasis must be to increase the resiliencies of the populations through vaccinations and improved lifestyles with more emphasis on local/regional food supplies. Lockdowns at this point only hurt people. This is NOT 2020.

Red Air will start charter flights between Santo domingo las americas and miami using an old mad dog md80.

https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/red-a ... miami.html

embraer175e2 wrote:

Red Air will start charter flights between Santo domingo las americas and miami using an old mad dog md80.

https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/red-a ... miami.html

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

danipawa wrote:

embraer175e2 wrote:

Red Air will start charter flights between Santo domingo las americas and miami using an old mad dog md80.

https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/red-a ... miami.html

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

caribny wrote:

danipawa wrote:

embraer175e2 wrote:

Red Air will start charter flights between Santo domingo las americas and miami using an old mad dog md80.

https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/red-a ... miami.html

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

Good question on the plus side MD8x aircraft are cheap to acquire however, the challenge comes with reliability and fuel cost. Given how many aircraft have been returned in the last few years and the attractive lease prices one would think a new carrier would opt for the A320 or 737 ng to start their operations.

novarupta wrote:

aa1818 wrote:

caribny wrote:

At this point clearly no reliable investor has shown up though there remains a need for LI as no one is going to service their markets. BW has apparently discontinued its POS ANU service though maintains its KIN ANU flight as part of its KIN BGI operations.

Wonder how long LI can survive like this?

I did a dummy booking POS-ANU and its showing twice a week 737 service ANU-POS-BGI and BGI-POS-ANU through at least April 2022. I was considering using this service next year, so would be interested to hear more if it's actually been discontinued.

Cheers,
AA1818

That service (BWA459/458) you’re referring to runs KIN-ANU-POS-BGI and back to KIN via the same legs later in the day twice weekly. The service Caribny may be referring to is a once weekly POS-ANU-POS using the ATR on Fridays. To be honest though I haven’t heard any news here at TAPA about it being cancelled thus far either as it’s still fairly new.

Regarding LIAT, the PM says there are investors interested but I’d take that assertion with a bucket of salt in the best of times. He also said about a month ago that they apparently turned an operating profit….but on the absence of him putting out actual numbers, that leaves plenty of room for doubt - especially for an operation with three airplanes, five days a week with low load factors.

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

wadadli wrote:

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

baje427 wrote:

caribny wrote:

danipawa wrote:

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

Good question on the plus side MD8x aircraft are cheap to acquire however, the challenge comes with reliability and fuel cost. Given how many aircraft have been returned in the last few years and the attractive lease prices one would think a new carrier would opt for the A320 or 737 ng to start their operations.

Lets see if they can compete with the competitors.

Eurowings Discovery starts FRA-BGI-FRA 3x weekly next Monday 1st November using a mix of A333's and A332's. In addition to these scheduled services, they will also operate Cruise-Fly transfers starting 8th November Every-other-week on Mondays and Thursdays until April 2022. With DE not operating any scheduled services this winter, hopefully these flights will be successful for the LH group as well as BGI.

aa1818 wrote:

wadadli wrote:

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

Curious to see who is traveling within the region because I suspect that most of these trips are more in the 4 day range, yet frequencies in many instances are really low.

caribny wrote:

aa1818 wrote:

wadadli wrote:

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

Curious to see who is traveling within the region because I suspect that most of these trips are more in the 4 day range, yet frequencies in many instances are really low.

With the exception of a handful of routes, POS-ANU being one such exception, most of the regional routes running now are at least 2x weekly which allows for those 4 day trips. The only other exception I can think of is KIN-ANU-BGI and that only applies to the ANU leg as KIN-BGI operates nonstop as well. Can’t think of anything else LI, 3S, InterCaribbean or BW are running once weekly.

Bogota Havana flights by Wingo.
https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/wingo ... -cuba.html

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

Sunrise Airways Haiti is adding 2 E120, wet lease from Sahara African Aviation.

ZS-SOB (already at Dominican Rep) and ZS-KLM on the way too.Current capacity: 3 JS32, HI1049, HI1059 operate by GECA (dominican subsidiary) and HH-VAR.
A320 stored at PAP yet since pandemic started.

fowlr29 wrote:

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

Sunrise Airways Embraer120

https://www.facebook.com/12126534470420 ... 949856690/

Brickell305 wrote:

fowlr29 wrote:

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

With only two aircraft there are only so many destinations they can handle to be honest.

caribny wrote:

danipawa wrote:

embraer175e2 wrote:

Red Air will start charter flights between Santo domingo las americas and miami using an old mad dog md80.

https://aviacionaldia.com/2021/10/red-a ... miami.html

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

Nope, they need investors like David Neeleman, new planes or second hand not so old like the mad dogs will do just fine, 10 /12 years a320s or 737 ngs will do just fine

Brickell305 wrote:

fowlr29 wrote:

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

LIAT has also indicated to the USVI government that they are looking into serving STX in the future, pending the recertification process with the FAA from Category 2 to Category 1.

CAL has announced the restart of their POS/KIN service from Dec 1 and a weekly POS/SXM/KIN from Dec 11.

aa1818 wrote:

wadadli wrote:

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

dominicl316 wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

fowlr29 wrote:

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

LIAT has also indicated to the USVI government that they are looking into serving STX in the future, pending the recertification process with the FAA from Category 2 to Category 1.

If recertification is an issue, how are they able to restart STT?

Hainan visiting Piarco.Piarco debut: Seen greasing the runway here is a Hainan Airlines Global A330-300 . Hailing from halfway across the world, tail B-8287 made the surprise visit, operating the routing PVG-BRU-POS, with over 22 hours flying time!

Brickell305 wrote:

dominicl316 wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

LIAT has also indicated to the USVI government that they are looking into serving STX in the future, pending the recertification process with the FAA from Category 2 to Category 1.

If recertification is an issue, how are they able to restart STT?

Under Category 2, they can maintain existing pre-Covid routes - SJU and STT.

Brickell305 wrote:

caribny wrote:

aa1818 wrote:

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

Curious to see who is traveling within the region because I suspect that most of these trips are more in the 4 day range, yet frequencies in many instances are really low.

With the exception of a handful of routes, POS-ANU being one such exception, most of the regional routes running now are at least 2x weekly which allows for those 4 day trips. The only other exception I can think of is KIN-ANU-BGI and that only applies to the ANU leg as KIN-BGI operates nonstop as well. Can’t think of anything else LI, 3S, InterCaribbean or BW are running once weekly.

2x weekly POS to GND, SVD, or SLU is low. This works for the more leisure oriented passenger. Lots of travel used to be about the quick trip and an analysis of BGI tourist arrivals will indicate this. LI used to offer those day trip fares for a reason. BGI is one of the few destinations which allows travelers flexibility. GEO/OGL as well from BGI and POS, but even POS BGI isnt as flexible as one would think given that on certain days BW has 2 flights, meaning that it isnt 4w flights spread evenly across the week.

Travel within the Caribbean is much more complex than one would think. It doesnt break down neatly into the corporate business trip, or conventional hotel based leisure trip as one would think. There are trips triggered by family situations as an example and these have to be fitted into work schedules, and I refer especially to VFR markets within the Caribbean where low end workers do not necessarily control their work schedules.

I suspect that much of the decline in traffic isnt just about pandemic protocols or declining incomes but just the hassles of scheduling this travel.

Brickell305 wrote:

fowlr29 wrote:

LI to restart St. Thomas sometime between November and December. No further details given

That’s great news. There will be demand to/from STT especially during the holiday period. LI’s focus seems to have been sharpened out of necessity. No longer looking solely at the biggest destinations (POS, OGL, BGI*) but looking at the routes/connections that other airlines will leave unserved and filling that niche role.



*I'm aware that they still serve BGI. However, service there has been greatly reduced and seems relatively token at this point.

If one looks at LIATs FB as a guide there is tremendous demand for the USVI and OGL. At least OGL can be accessed via BGI and POS thru a connection with BW, a hassle to be sure as there is no coordination of service, but there is no reliable service from the USVI to points other than SJU and clearly demand for this exists.

And yes LI provides strategic services within the Eastern Caribbean. What some folks do not understand is because the islands with ample labor are in the south ad those with high wages are in the north there is significant travel between those two sub regions. The 2 largest Caribbean immigrant groups in the BVI are Vincentians and Guyanese. Guyanese are the largest immigrant group in ANU. Some sort of coordination between LI and BW will seem to be appropriate to allow passengers the ability to travel and yet allowing carriers to focus on markets which they can best succeed in. LI in the southeast Caribbean is finished. Its role will be to connect its southern and northern arms.

trini81 wrote:

CAL has announced the restart of their POS/KIN service from Dec 1 and a weekly POS/SXM/KIN from Dec 11.

aa1818 wrote:

wadadli wrote:

BW POS/ANU/POS ATR Friday service never stopped. Flights are bookable through March, 2022 at the moment.

Good to know- I guess if I visit next year and they don't restart the 737 continuing service from KIN, i'll just have to stay a week!
Heheh

Cheers
AA1818

The Jamaicans who live in SXM will be happy to hear the news. Quite a few questions on the BW FB about the lack of such service. There is also a certain level of GEO SXM travel (both direct and connecting with WM to EIS) which will also be happy to hear this.

caribny wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

caribny wrote:

Curious to see who is traveling within the region because I suspect that most of these trips are more in the 4 day range, yet frequencies in many instances are really low.

With the exception of a handful of routes, POS-ANU being one such exception, most of the regional routes running now are at least 2x weekly which allows for those 4 day trips. The only other exception I can think of is KIN-ANU-BGI and that only applies to the ANU leg as KIN-BGI operates nonstop as well. Can’t think of anything else LI, 3S, InterCaribbean or BW are running once weekly.

2x weekly POS to GND, SVD, or SLU is low. This works for the more leisure oriented passenger. Lots of travel used to be about the quick trip and an analysis of BGI tourist arrivals will indicate this. LI used to offer those day trip fares for a reason. BGI is one of the few destinations which allows travelers flexibility. GEO/OGL as well from BGI and POS, but even POS BGI isnt as flexible as one would think given that on certain days BW has 2 flights, meaning that it isnt 4w flights spread evenly across the week.

Travel within the Caribbean is much more complex than one would think. It doesnt break down neatly into the corporate business trip, or conventional hotel based leisure trip as one would think. There are trips triggered by family situations as an example and these have to be fitted into work schedules, and I refer especially to VFR markets within the Caribbean where low end workers do not necessarily control their work schedules.

I suspect that much of the decline in traffic isnt just about pandemic protocols or declining incomes but just the hassles of scheduling this travel.

I agree on your last point about the hassle of travel. The issue is that it’s a vicious circle. If the airlines don’t see demand, they are going to continue to offer the meager schedules they are offering. As long as those schedules remain meager, it will deter at least some travel and it will take longer for airlines to see the demand necessary to restore full schedules. I don’t think this is a primary issue though. The main issues are likely:

1. the continued restrictions in the islands. Why pay to leave your island which is under curfew to visit another island which is under similar or even harsher curfew?

2. The additional cost of travel due to required testing.

3. The lack of events or other catalysts for travel. This is related to point 1.

4. In the specific case of BGI, the fact that the US embassy has gone remote and visits are no longer required (at least for now).

BW has announced resumption of service to FLL from both KIN and POS. Starts first week of December and runs through the holidays, 2x service. They made a point to mention that POS is seasonal and KIN will run beyond the holiday period so it looks like KIN may be a permanent addition.

Nice to see them getting more flights on the schedule. Just need the new aircraft to start arriving now.

HIA350 wrote:

caribny wrote:

danipawa wrote:

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

Nope, they need investors like David Neeleman, new planes or second hand not so old like the mad dogs will do just fine, 10 /12 years a320s or 737 ngs will do just fine

Airlines succeed only to the degree that passengers use them. If interiors are shabby and lack modern amenities their fares will have to be very low to compete.

Brickell305 wrote:

caribny wrote:

Brickell305 wrote:

With the exception of a handful of routes, POS-ANU being one such exception, most of the regional routes running now are at least 2x weekly which allows for those 4 day trips. The only other exception I can think of is KIN-ANU-BGI and that only applies to the ANU leg as KIN-BGI operates nonstop as well. Can’t think of anything else LI, 3S, InterCaribbean or BW are running once weekly.

2x weekly POS to GND, SVD, or SLU is low. This works for the more leisure oriented passenger. Lots of travel used to be about the quick trip and an analysis of BGI tourist arrivals will indicate this. LI used to offer those day trip fares for a reason. BGI is one of the few destinations which allows travelers flexibility. GEO/OGL as well from BGI and POS, but even POS BGI isnt as flexible as one would think given that on certain days BW has 2 flights, meaning that it isnt 4w flights spread evenly across the week.

Travel within the Caribbean is much more complex than one would think. It doesnt break down neatly into the corporate business trip, or conventional hotel based leisure trip as one would think. There are trips triggered by family situations as an example and these have to be fitted into work schedules, and I refer especially to VFR markets within the Caribbean where low end workers do not necessarily control their work schedules.

I suspect that much of the decline in traffic isnt just about pandemic protocols or declining incomes but just the hassles of scheduling this travel.

I agree on your last point about the hassle of travel. The issue is that it’s a vicious circle. If the airlines don’t see demand, they are going to continue to offer the meager schedules they are offering. As long as those schedules remain meager, it will deter at least some travel and it will take longer for airlines to see the demand necessary to restore full schedules. I don’t think this is a primary issue though. The main issues are likely:

1. the continued restrictions in the islands. Why pay to leave your island which is under curfew to visit another island which is under similar or even harsher curfew?

2. The additional cost of travel due to required testing.

3. The lack of events or other catalysts for travel. This is related to point 1.

4. In the specific case of BGI, the fact that the US embassy has gone remote and visits are no longer required (at least for now).

I fully understand why the frequencies are so low. JY would love to have had higher frequencies out of BGI, especially now that they are no longer allowed to have an SDQ hub, so have excess planes. They have recently added a few more flights as apparently they might be some recovery as quarantines become less onerous, but this is still way below what they had originally anticipated. They do manage decent frequencies on its BGI hub with virtually daily flights at various times of the day. Clearly a far cry from LI pre pandemic, but enough to ensure that those who do need to travel can do so without the additional scheduling hassles. And yes travel within the region is like more the "need to" than the "want to" travel. That is aside from OGL/GEO.



If there were 5 reasons for people to travel within the Eastern Caribbean there is only now 1 into markets other than BGI and on the POS/GEO route. An example of how frequencies might impact how people travel let us look at DOM. Traditionally most seats were towards ANU, but now its towards BGI as JY offers more flexibility for connections to BGI than does LI into ANU or other carriers to SJU. So Dominicans are probably going to BGI to procure goods/services that in times past they would have obtained in ANU. LI doesnt offer any morning flights to ANU from DOM, so BGI becomes more convenient.

baje427 wrote:

caribny wrote:

danipawa wrote:

They are set to operate 4 MD81-82. They got permits to operate CCS, SJO, TPA and Colombia

Can a new airline with an ageing fleet compete against establish carriers with more modern planes? Several Dominican carriers have failed.

Good question on the plus side MD8x aircraft are cheap to acquire however, the challenge comes with reliability and fuel cost. Given how many aircraft have been returned in the last few years and the attractive lease prices one would think a new carrier would opt for the A320 or 737 ng to start their operations.

Red Air is talking about punctuality on their facebook page. Very ironic how on time you can be with an old md80

Cal pax dies in flight.

https://www.facebook.com/126206357995/p ... 977407996/

miaami wrote:

When will AA restart flights to GCM?

The schedule is zeroed out until Feb 17. Obviously, there's no guarantee that service will begin at that date as schedules remain in flux. They were initially supposed to restart in November and then announced they were pushing back service until 2022.

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

I've just returned from a brief visit to Barbados. I had to quarantine for a night but got a negative PCR result the next morning from the swap at BGI on arrival, so was able to leave the hotel. If I'd arrived on 24 October or later there is no quarantine so long as the pre-flight PCR test (within 72 hours of scheduled arrival) is negative and you are fully vaccinated.

The airline news in the local press was about the inaugural arrival of the Aer Lingus 333 from MAN on 20 October carrying 128 passengers and the KLM 332 from AMS on 16 October carrying over 180 passengers. There was little or no mention that KLM's return to AMS is via POS. KLM was the first commercial airline to arrive at Seawell Airport (renamed Grantley Adams International Airport in 1976) on 19 October 1938.

It was clear that flights and passenger numbers are increasing but the curfew from 9pm to 5am until at least 7 November is unpopular.

On departure to LHR check-in staff checked passenger locator forms and vaccination certificates, and this caused delays as not everyone had them at hand.

windian425 wrote:

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

Damn, so BA will have 21 weekly flights to BGI from London this winter season?

A388

Finally after a long long wait, Copa Airlines is returning to SXM starting Jan 5, 2022. Looking at the seats sold however, the LF is really low, but we have two months ahead to see more seats filled up.... I really hope in this next two months before that date, they can fill the planes with a decent LF and keep the route strong, I'm planning to take that flight in February...

Anyone knows if KLM has local traffic rights between BGI and POS?

Cheers,
AA1818

If KL has traffic rights they are no utilised as BGI-POS is not bookable.

windian425 wrote:

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

I'm curious about the loads on these flights. That being said any word on VS's schedule for the winter season?

windian425 wrote:

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

This is not correct for the start of the winter season. BA has a year-round daily flight from LHR to BGI and this winter there are additional flights from LGW (no first class) every day except Mondays and Wednesdays until 26 March 2022, so a maximum of 12 flights each week. However from 11 December there will be a second flight from LHR on Saturdays and Sundays (with First class), so three daily flights on those days until Sunday 9 January 2022 making it 14 weekly flights. There will be only one flight (from LHR) on Saturday 25 December.

The only previous time I can recall three daily flights was up to the 2003/04 winter season when on Saturdays the following arrived in this order:
- Concorde from LHR (mornings)
- 772 from LGW
- 744 from LHR (until March 2004)

Redair Dominicana starting MIA-SDQ flights tomorrow, 1 daily, charters basis

aa1818 wrote:

Anyone knows if KLM has local traffic rights between BGI and POS?

Cheers,
AA1818

Most likely not. Only carriers like BA have these rights as they enjoyed grandfathered rights when CARICOM sought to establish a single air space. AC may still have those rights although these havent been exercised.

baje427 wrote:

windian425 wrote:

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

I'm curious about the loads on these flights. That being said any word on VS's schedule for the winter season?

VS is flying from LHR, MAN & EDI with a mix of the A350, A330 & the 787.
LHR 9x weekly (tagging 4x GND & 2x SVD - A330)
MAN 5x weekly - 789
EDI 2x weekly - A330

BWA900 wrote:

baje427 wrote:

windian425 wrote:

Tomorrow starts the W21/22 Winter Season and BA will have 3 flights into BGI from London. 2 flights from LHR arriving at 15:25 and 18:45 plus a LGW flight arriving at 18:30. All flights operated with B777's with the first LHR flight a 77W. Definitely a first for BA to BGI; 3 scheduled flights in on day.

I'm curious about the loads on these flights. That being said any word on VS's schedule for the winter season?

VS is flying from LHR, MAN & EDI with a mix of the A350, A330 & the 787.
LHR 9x weekly (tagging 4x GND & 2x SVD - A330)
MAN 5x weekly - 789
EDI 2x weekly - A330

VS definitely has a major operation in BGI this winter. Not sure about seat capacity as compared to operating daily 455 seat 744's but a major increase in overall flights. Hope some of these flights remain for summer 2022.
I note that the TAB tag on flights are not shown above, will these start in January?

1st Eurowings Discovery flight to BGI starts today FRA-BGI-FRA with A332 D-AXGE. These flights will operate 3x weekly and fill the void left by DE who will only operate cruise/fly charters.