BRENT PINHEIRO
brent.pinheiro@guardian.co.tt
British Airways (BA) is set to resume service to Tobago today when the ANR Robinson International Airport reopens to international passenger traffic for the first time since March 2020.
BA 2157 departs London Gatwick (LGW) at 9:15 am and arrives at the ANR Robinson Airport (TAB) at 4:35 pm, with a one-hour stopover in Antigua (ANU). BA 2256 departs Tobago at 6:30 pm and arrives at Gatwick at 8:55 am, with another quick stopover in Antigua. BA will operate the route on Mondays and Fridays using Boeing 777 aircraft.
The TTravelpass system will be used at the ANR Robinson International Airport, requiring all incoming travellers to present a negative RT-PCR test taken no earlier than 72 hours prior to arrival. All non-nationals are required to be fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated nationals are required to go into state-supervised quarantine (at their own cost) at the Grafton Beach Resort for 14 days.
Farley Augustine at yesterdays THA Post Executive Council media briefing. Photo courtesy: THA Information Department
Speaking at yesterday’s THA Post Executive Council media briefing, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine confirmed that authorities are “ready and prepared” to receive travellers.
“The healthcare professionals have been to the airport, they have done test runs, they have assessed the gaps, they have closed the gaps. We have procured things that we did not have before to allow for the safe landing of these flights and, so we are ready to do business,” he said.
British Airways continues to fly four times weekly to Port of Spain via St. Lucia.
Photo courtesy Virgin Atlantic International
Meanwhile, according to their website, Virgin Atlantic International resumes flights to Tobago on January 29th. VS 177 leaves from London Heathrow (LHR) at 9.10 am and arrives in Tobago (TAB) at 5 pm. This isn’t a nonstop flight as there is a short layover in Barbados (BGI). VS 178 is an overnight flight, leaving Tobago at 6 pm. It stops to pick up passengers in Barbados, then continues to Heathrow with a scheduled arrival time of 10 am the next day.
Virgin Atlantic will use its Airbus A330-300 aircraft to service the route twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays until the end of March. From March 31st, there will only be one weekly flight operated on Thursdays. That flight departs Heathrow at 9:20 am and arrives in Tobago at 3:30 pm after a brief stop in Barbados.
Photo courtesy WestJet Airlines
And in other route news, Canadian airline WestJet has temporarily suspended flights to T&T citing low demand, staff shortages and challenges. According to their current schedule, flights from Toronto will resume on March 4th.
JetBlue Airways also has temporarily stopped flights to/from Fort Lauderdale. The airline is expected to resume flights on that route on February 17th. The airline continues to fly to/from New York.