Direct Flights Begin from Manchester to St Lucia

All systems are go, making it even easier for thousands of travellers to escape the temperamental British weather, as Saint Lucia welcomed a new direct flight from Manchester Airport to its sunny shores at the weekend.

From Sunday November 10, 2013, charter airline Thomas Cook will be providing weekly Sunday flights on the flight-only arm of its operation, Fly Thomas Cook, using a specially configured Airbus A330 aircraft. The highly anticipated flight, with its captain, crew and passengers were greeted with much fanfare by officials of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and aviation partner, the St Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLASPA).

The flight leaves Manchester at 7:00am GMT to arrive in Saint Lucia at 3:00pm local time. This departure allows travellers to benefit from a wide range of connections from regional airports across the UK and Europe including Scandinavia and Germany.

Thomas Cook also owns the Condor brand, which will further enable Saint Lucia to benefit from Condor’s connectivity on other routes throughout Europe.

At a ceremony to welcome the inaugural flight, chairman of the SLTB’s Airlift Committee, Thaddeus Antoine noted, “It is has not escaped the Tourist Board’s attention that Thomas Cook Airlines is a member of the Thomas Cook Group; a global travel company with over 170 years of knowledge and experience of what a traveler and vacationer wants in a destination holiday.”

According to Antoine, who also serves as deputy chairman of the SLTB, “By flying to ‘Simply Beautiful’ Saint Lucia, you have signaled to us and perhaps most importantly to the British traveler, that Saint Lucia is the Caribbean get away of choice for their vacation. After all, customers trust Thomas Cook to make their holidays truly special. Such a partnership we value immensely.”

Participating in the traditional plaque exchange ceremony, Thomas Cook aviation director James Burrows noted, “Thomas Cook was simply delighted to add Saint Lucia as another destination on its year round schedule service.”

Also on hand to welcome the inaugural flight, Tourist Board chairman Matthew Beaubrun said, “We are extremely pleased that Thomas Cook Airlines had expanded its services with this new flight to Saint Lucia with onward connections to Barbados.”

The new flight, with a capacity of 325 seats, is a welcome boost to the island’s airlift from Europe, providing more travel options for those in the Midlands, the North and Scotland, to directly and seamlessly access Saint Lucia.

The Thomas Cook flight will see two brands of Thomas Cook: Tropical Shores and Airtours, beginning to sell to Saint Lucia.

Source: Caribbean News Now