Above: Antigua (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A pair of air carriers are adding Antigua and Barbuda to their winter schedule in 2013, Tourism Minister John Maginley announced this week.

German carrier Condor and Italian airline Blue Panorama have added the country to their winter flight schedules.

 “Condor will now be returning winter flights with no guarantee. You never got them to come without a guarantee [previously],” he told Parliament this week. “Not only that, they are now flying a schedule. It’s no longer a charter.”

The Ministry is currently in talks for Condor to add a second weekly flight, he said.

Condor had allowed its contract with the government to provide weekly service had ended in April 2011, when Condor said the airline had asked for a guarantee of $1,000 for every empty seat flown and around $400,000 in marketing support.

Blue Panorama, which flies out of Milan, is also heading to Antigua, in another flight without a guarantee.

“Our goal for the next year is to have a mid-week flight [in addition to the weekend one],” Maginley said.