Above: a Thomas Cook plane

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Thomas Cook Airlines has officially inaugurated its new non-stop weekly service from Manchester to Antigua.

The service, which began last week, will fly from Manchester International Airport to VC Bird International Airport every Thursday, departing at 10 AM and arriving around 2:45 PM local time.

Thomas Cook recently launched a new service to St Lucia as well.

“We have continued to work hard at growing the UK market in these challenging times,” said Tourism Minister John Maginley. “This new Thomas Cook service is testimony to the UK airlines’ continued confidence in Antigua and Barbuda as a leading Caribbean holiday destination.”

Thomas Cook is operating the service on a refurbished Airbus A330 plane, with a total capacity of 320 seats, all of which will be economy class.

“Today saw yet again another full flight to the Caribbean, with our new A330 aircraft starting our second weekly flight taking our customers to the beautiful island of Antigua,” said Thomas Cook Airlines UK CEO Christoph Debus. “Our new route to Antigua is yet again great news as we continue to develop Manchester Airport as our long haul hub and is another step as we aim to become the best sun and beach leisure airline.”

It is the only service outside of London to Antigua.

“The additional airlift is welcomed news by all local tourism stakeholders as it will open up the North of England and Scotland to our destination once again,” said Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority CEO Colin James.