On Tuesday 30th March 2010, St. Kitts proudly welcomed the much anticipated second British Airways inaugural flight from the UK, complementing the current weekly Saturday service to RLB International Airport, which commenced operations just over one year ago in January 2009. BA2157 from London (Gatwick) will touch down in St. Kitts at 15.35 local time, heralding in a significant era for St. Kitts & Nevis arrivals from UK and Europe .

Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Richard Skerritt who, along with other local officials will welcome the new weekly Tuesday flight, said “this flight is an important symbol of hope for our Tourism arrivals at a challenging time for Caribbean tourism and at a financially awkward time for international airlift. The British Airways decision to operate a second flight to St. Kitts from the UK not only symbolises BA’s confidence in the future of our destination, it also highlights the promising results our partnership with BA has been enjoying for the Saturday operation which, in the first year alone, brought close to 10,000 visitors to our island.”

The new mid week Tuesday flight will immediately increase capacity to St. Kitts while offering even greater flexibility and choice to the duration of visitor nights.  The BA aircraft will use a similar configuration to the existing Saturday flight with a three class, 280 seat Boeing 777 aircraft holding 40 Club World seats, 24 World Traveller Plus and 216 World Traveller seats.

Rosecita Jeffers, CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority, added, “In this Celebrate St. Kitts Year, the new BA flight shows the attractiveness of St. Kitts as a destination for the UK market and is therefore good news for existing and new tour operators as well as for our hoteliers. We are already seeing positive signs of a rebound in visitor arrivals and several trade and consumer initiatives currently in planning by the UK office of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority will undoubtedly ensure its continued success.”