British Airways this week announced the addition of a new flight route between London Gatwick and Montego Bay set to begin on October 13.

The new flights will be operated by its three-class B777 aircraft featuring: World Traveller, World Traveller Plus and Club World. The flights will depart twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

“Flight BA2265 will depart London Gatwick on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 12:20 arriving at 17:30 and the BA2264 will return from Montego Bay to London Gatwick on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 19:30 arriving at 09:25 the following day,” a news release informed.

According to Diane Corrie, British Airways’ commercial manager for the Caribbean, the service represents an extension of existing partnerships: “We’re excited to be extending our network once again between London Gatwick and the Caribbean with the start of this new flight to Montego Bay in October, as well as resuming our services to Antigua [from August 1], Barbados [from July 18], Kingston, [Jamaica, from July 20] and St Lucia [from July 25], albeit with reduced frequencies,” she said.

Director of Tourism at the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Donovan White, said that he was also thrilled that British Airways has added this new bi-weekly service to its regular London Gatwick-Kingston service, which will help to bolster the number of flights from the United Kingdom to Jamaica.

“During these unprecedented times, Jamaica has implemented robust health protocols to ensure the well-being of all residents and visitors. As an incredibly popular Caribbean destination, with over 225,000 Brits visiting each year, we look forward to welcoming even more British visitors. Now more than ever, we are thrilled to have British Airways’ continued support to drive visitation from the UK market,” he added.

MBJ Airports Limited’s chief executive officer (CEO), Shane Munroe, in commenting on the move, said that he was also pleased with the addition of this new service.

“This is a significant achievement at a time like this and speaks volumes for destination Jamaica and MBJ,” he stated.

The Montego Bay service will operate over the winter period until Easter 2021.

British Airways, in keeping with the health and safety protocols designed to mitigate against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, noted that it has introduced a range of measures to keep customers and staff safe. These include asking passengers to:

•ot travel if they think they have any symptoms of COVID-19;

•Check in online, download their boarding pass and where possible self-scan their boarding passes at the departure gate;

•Observe social distancing and use hand sanitisers that are placed throughout airports;

•Wear a face mask at all times and bring enough to replace them every four hours for longer flights;

• Ensure they have everything they need from their hand luggage before departure, and where possible, store their carry-on bag under the seat in front of them.

In addition, the airline said that its cabin crew will be wearing personal protective equipment and there is a new food service, which reduces the number of interactions required with customers, along with regular cleaning of seats and surfaces to be done after every flight.

— Kellaray Miles