BA chief hopeful of increased Caribbean travel after 17 May

British Airways chief executive officer Sean Doyle says he is hopeful that after 17 May, when the UK is expected to announce a travel ‘green list’, that the airway can expand on the number of routes it operates between London and Caribbean destinations.

The airline has been running a flight between Heathrow Airport and Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman once every two weeks. However, government’s Travel Cayman portal does not currently list any incoming flights from London among the inbound routes listed on the site until the end of June.

Doyle, in a Caribbean Tourism Organization Facebook Live conversation this morning, said he could not comment on specific routes until more information on the green list is available.

However, he said the airline had launched weekly flights to Kingston, Jamaica, from London, and expected to expand this to twice weekly after 17 May.

“We are looking forward to the announcements by the UK government in the coming weeks in relation to the travel framework and I think the Caribbean will form a very important part of our plans as we come out the other end of the pandemic,” he told CTO communications specialist Johnson Johnrose.

He said he thought it was likely that the Caribbean, United States and certain parts of Europe would be included in the green list. “Looking at both the rate of prevalence [of COVID-19] in the UK, and the progression of the pandemic in the Caribbean, that looks like a very compelling case to make.”

He added, “We know that British customers love flying to the Caribbean. We have been flying here since 1946… We are well equipped to capitalise on any opening up that we would expect to come our way in the coming weeks.”

Last month, the British government said it would announce which countries would be open for quarantine-free travel from the UK in early May, ahead of a plan to allow holidays again from 17 May.

News agency Reuters reported yesterday that travel companies are responding to pent-up demand from British customers for overseas vacations. UK-based Thomas Cook, which sells holidays online, said that bookings in the week ended 2 May were up 50% on the previous week, with summer trips as well as autumn and 2022 packages all in demand.

Prior to COVID-19, British Airways operated 13 routes to Caribbean airports. Doyle said once restrictions are lifted, the airline intended to return to those destinations.

Doyle noted that BA had continued to fly to certain Caribbean destinations throughout the pandemic, and that it currently has routes to Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia and Antigua. Cayman is also one of the places the airline has continuously flown to and from throughout that time, albeit at a much reduced service compared to pre-COVID levels.

He pointed to a number of “positive” developments in recent months, including COVID-19 vaccinations, affordable and fast testing, and digital capability that can verify if tests or vaccinations had been carried out.

“We did not have any of those three capabilities last year. We would be very keen to capitalise on those three strands to drive a meaningful resumption of travel,” he said.

Johnrose pointed out that the International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways, had reported that in the first quarter of this year, its airlines had operated at one-fifth of their pre-COVID passenger capacity levels. IAG has reported a 6.5 million pound loss compared to last year.

Doyle said that the airline had downsized in some regards in reaction to the COVID-19 crisis, including retiring 31 of its 747 aircraft and replacing them with more fuel-efficient planes. BA has also reduced the size of its workforce.

He said the airline had also pivoted by transforming some of its passengers aircraft into cargo planes and had delivered crucial PPE equipment and vaccines to a number of counties. Since January this year, BA has been delivering shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines to Cayman. Those shipments ended last month.