Asot Michael, Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism minister, has revealed the destination will benefit from an additional flight with British Airways for the summer 2015.

This increase comes following a meeting held with British Airways officials at the BA headquarters in England, but also on the back of the airlines growing confidence in the destination.

The additional flight will take airlift available on British Airways from six to seven flights daily, and will allow the airline’s seats to the destination to grow by twenty per cent, making way for increased UK tourism arrivals.

Michael updated the airline executives on the government’s long-term development plan to boost tourism going forward.

He discussed the commitment to increasing the current rooms on island to 5,000 by 2016 and the near completion of the new state of the art airport, the largest in the Eastern Caribbean, which will be ready to receive the increased arrivals this coming summer.

He added that the government has come to an agreement with Petrocaribe/Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas which will allow fuel costs to the airline to become ten to 12 per cent cheaper. 

This news was well-received by British Airways.