Dutch carrier KLM is launching its new flights to the island of Barbados. 

The new service, which kicks off this weekend, will operate between Amsterdams Schiphol and Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport. 

KLM is adding over 20,000 seats from Europe to Barbados over five months, according to local tourism officials. 

It’s actually a return for KLM to Barbados after a more than two-decade hiatus. 

The Amsterdam-Barbados flights takes around nine hours and 20 minutes. 

The service is operating twice weekly, with flights on Saturdays and Mondays. 

“We look forward to welcoming KLM once more, two decades later, to our shores. As we look at the state of the global tourism industry, the fact that in the midst of this pandemic, our partners continue to demonstrate such confidence in the Barbados brand,” said Barbados Tourism Minister Lisa Cummins. “More importantly, it is a reflection of the work that the tourism team serving Barbados has been doing as we signal the closure of more deals for new and expanded airlift and continue to bring our secrtor back to life in these extraordinary circumstances.”

Barbados is also getting flights from Germany’s Lufthansa this winter season, Cummins said. 

“This development will positively enhance Barbados’ efforts to re-establish its footprint in Europe and I am very proud that Barbados can boast strong partnerships with both KLM and Lufthansa, two established European carriers, as we approach winter 2021/2022,” she said “We are committed to keeping this thrust going through the rest of the season.”

— CJ