GAIA Marks A Historic Milestone With 54 Flights In One Day
The Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) and the tourism industry marked a historic milestone on Saturday, December 21, with the arrival of 54 flights.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Ian Gooding-Edghill, who was present for the arrival of the inaugural Delta Saturday-only flight out of John F. Kennedy’s Airport, stated that from the 54 flights, approximately 8,000 passengers would have arrived on the island, with 2,200 of those passengers being air-to-sea transfers.
Mr. Gooding-Edghill noted that the milestone proved that the efforts of the Ministry and the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s (BTMI) airlift strategy had been successful and gave a breakdown of the type of aircraft that landed at GAIA.
“Our airlift strategy has been successful in getting more airlift and visitors to Barbados…. Today is also a very historic day for the Grantley Adams International Airport. I must tell you that today this airport will witness 54 flights, 15 wide body flights, 15 narrow bodies, and 24 regional,” Minister Gooding-Edghill said.
He expressed thanks to the staff of the Ministry, the BTMI, those in the aviation sector, tourism stakeholders, and notably, BTMI’s Director for the USA, Peter Mayers.
“Let me also thank the wonderful team that is the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.’s wonderful team that they have based in the United States of America. It is this team that journeyed with us and helped us when we were negotiating with the airlines to achieve the success that we are achieving with our airline strategy. It is the team led by our Director, Peter Mayers.
“Peter, I want to say thank you, not only on the behalf of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., not only on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism but certainly on behalf of the Government and the people of Barbados, for your continuing service excellence and your dedication to the development of Barbados as a tourism destination, I really want to say that to you,” the Tourism Minister stated.
He noted that the increase in airlifts was reflected in the statistics regarding visitor arrivals when compared to 2019. “Another very interesting statistic is that the Grantley Adams International Airport is projecting to have 2.35 million passengers by the end of this calendar year. This is certainly up from the 2019 figure, which I’m advised, was 2.29 million passengers,” Mr. Gooding-Edghill reported.
The Minister added that the Ministry intends to ensure that more airlift comes to the island from the United States and Europe.
Also giving an update on the operations at the GAIA was its Chief Executive Officer, Hadley Bourne. He shared that one of the initiatives to enhance the experience at the airport was the operationalisation of the Concorde Experience.
“So, we would have heard the Minister speak about his tourism strategy and growth that we are seeing in all the various markets and even on the air-to-sea side, and one of those pretty good initiatives that we would have also engaged in to enhance the overall experience at the Grantley Adams International Airport is the opening of the Concord experience.
“It’s been open now roughly six weeks, and we’ve been having fantastic feedback from all stakeholders, whether it be the passengers or the cruise personnel, and even local stakeholders. And on any given Friday or Saturday, there’s a throughput through that facility in excess of 1,500 passengers. This takes a significant load off the main terminal, which allows for the Minister to then exceed his commercial activity and that is just one of the initiatives that we’ve seen. Because for us, customer experience is key to maintaining and keeping the tourism product that we are promoting,” Mr. Bourne stated.
Author: Sheens Forde-Craigg