![](https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/British-Airways_2.jpg)
After a hiatus of more than 15 years, Barbados will once again be serviced by British Airways from London Heathrow with a year-round direct daily service commencing October 17, 2020.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Senator Lisa Cummins, made the announcement on Tuesday.
“For more than 15 years, Barbados has been engaging British Airways on the re-establishment of London Heathrow as the gateway to Barbados, following the retirement of its Concorde service. We are thrilled therefore to see this finally come to fruition as it opens the door for us, quite literally, for growth opportunities in cities and continents that were once out of our reach,” she said.
Barbados will now have enhanced domestic connectivity from all regions of the U.K., including cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle, as well as the key Northwest England gateway of Manchester, and the affluent Chester and Cheadle regions.
The flight’s afternoon departure from the U.K. will also offer seamless connections to British Airways’ extensive European network, tapping into the major cities of Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm and Vienna.
Going further afield, it also offers Barbados the opportunity to explore new markets such as Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and the Far East.
“Post-COVID-19, with British Airways seeing the contraction of various routes, the opportunity presented itself for this service and we were determined to secure it. Understanding the challenges currently faced by our industry, it is critical for us to be both smart and aggressive with our growth strategy, and this represents that,” Cummins asserted.
Coinciding with the busy half-term period in the fall, the new service commencing in October will be operated using British Airways’ four-class Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The year-round daily service will boost the already daily flights from London Gatwick, which run from October 2020 through April 2021.
“The U.K. continues to be our primary source market. In 2019, Barbados reported record arrivals from the U.K.—234,658 arrivals of the destination’s overall 712,945. We therefore expect that this addition will bring us even more favourable results as we look confidently ahead to our future,” Cummins said.