Antigua Airways starts flights between Africa and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean
In an effort to link the Caribbean with West Africa, the government of Antigua and Barbuda has established Antigua Airways. The parastatal company is the result of a partnership between the government and a group of Nigerian investors.
Initially scheduled for last October and then yesterday, the inaugural flight of Antigua Airways finally took place on Tuesday 1 November 2022. Flight YU621 took off from Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos at 6:31am (local time; GMT+1), arriving at VC Bird International Airport in Saint John's in the afternoon after more than 9 hours of direct flight. For this inaugural flight, Antigua Airways lined up a Boeing767-300 ( CS-TSU) operated by the Portuguese carrier Euroatlantic.
For this inaugural flight, Antigua Airways has lined up a Boeing767-300 ( CS-TSU) operated by the Portuguese carrier Euroatlantic.
According to the schedule released by Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne, the same aircraft will serve Lisbon, Portugal, before returning to Saint John's on November 5. The following day, it will head back to Lagos, and depart for Lisbon on the 7th.
For the time being, Antigua Airways is planning three weekly flights between Nigeria, Ghana (Accra) and Canada (Toronto), with the Caribbean island of Antigua as a central hub. "The special visa-on-arrival programme for travellers to Antigua Airways is available from the start of operations," she says.
Antigua Airways is the result of a public-private partnership between the state of Antigua and Barbuda and "Africa's fastest growing online travel agency, connecting the Caribbean to West Africa and the Americas," the company says. According to Caribbean Loop News, the company is Nigerian-based Wakanow.
On the flyer announcing the launch of the company's activities, the address of the Antigua and Barbuda Chamber of Commerce (Nigeria branch) is given for information purposes. The Chamber denounced this, saying it was not connected to the Antigua Airways project.
