LONDON, England – British Airways and Winair have announced they will offer a cost effective, same-day route from London to Dominica, via Antigua.
The new route will mean that British travellers can leave the UK at 10:30 GMT and be in the hidden island paradise of Dominica with a rum punch in their hand by 18:30 local time.
Colin Piper, CEO and Director of Tourism at Discover Dominica Authority, says ‘The new same-day connection is great news for the island and we’re excited that our visitors will now be able to travel straight to us and be in a Dominican frame of mind by dinnertime. Many travellers might have been put off by having to stay overnight at one of our Caribbean neighbours, so I hope this new connection will encourage more British holidaymakers to visit our slice of tropical paradise.’
This is fantastic news!! Hip hip hooray!!!!
Who really wants to fly those Twin Otter Airplanes? My ear drums and head was ready to explode the first time I left Dominica on one of these. We are in 2016. It’s time build a new airport capable of seeing larger planes land daily with more passengers.
It’s people like you who destroy hope for YOUR country.
I am one of the Dominican that would happly travel home once a year if we had an international airport
writing from London
This is good news in did i welcome it and love it. ✈
great move thus far ,, now push for marketing the country more in Europe, and please allow passengers to pay the dep tax on ticket instead of at the airport,, be more professional and allow a better waiting area when going through immigration on departure, let us look more professional.
GET AN AIRPORT STARTED, AS YOU CAN SEE IF BRITISH CAN CO WITH WINAIR, IF AN AIRPORT IS BUILT THEY MAY BE THE FIRST TO START COMING…. THINK ABOUT THAT.
SOON YOU WILL HEAR BACKWARD LIAT CO WITH VIRGIN….HAHA WHAT A THING.. ANYWAYS KEEP THE PRESSURE ON…
Stop complaining and think of this as a positive start to better Dominica!!
When is this going to start, can’t DA have the same arrangement with Virgin. Why Antigua I would prefer Barbados
Has Dominica regressed or has it stood still? 27years ago my wife and I went to Dominica from London with our two year old daughter, we arrived at Antigua and took a connection to Canefield on the very same day . If I understand rightly now we are back to square one , surely that can’t be good .
Great News. But awaiting the W.C.M.F. line up and activities leading up to our Indepedence. It is very discouraging to those who visit our lovely Island and cant get there sometimes after their Vacation is over. Hope this move last long after any Election. We go see.
I live in a community of 69,000 people and I can fly directly from New York to London, Okay Dominican
Good for you Joan but I believe you are disingenuous. Of course you can fly direct from New York to London, that is not news. Do you live in a small town with its own airport with direct flights to London or are you part of an urban conurbation, say greater New York? I can make the same claim as you, living in Dominica. I too can fly direct from New York to London but have to get to JFK or Newark first and in fact I have done that, Melville Hall to San Juan to JFK to London Heathrow, capice?
Nothing to do with population though is it? It’s all about terrain.
“Colin Piper, CEO and Director of Tourism at Discover Dominica Authority, says ‘The new same-day connection is great”
Another bit of wishful thinking; British Airways has been flying from London Direct to Antigua for more than sixty years: It was BOAC British Overseas Airways. I flew from England to Antigua, and from Antigua to Heathtrow International in London.
Within that time for at least fifty years LIAT continues to fly to Dominica, and there were no connecting flights what difference it is going to make when British Airways land in Antigua at eight o’clock in the night, will Windward Airline fly to Dominica in the dark of night to hit a mountain on approach to Melville Hall?
Let’s wait and see: As long as Colin Piper is involved, consider it a babbling joke!
If the flight leaves London at 10am it will get to Antigua at 1pm local time. They are proposing to arrive in Dominica by 6.30 pm so I suppose they aim to have multiple connecting flights between 1pm and 5.30 pm in order to accommodate a BA plane load of passengers on the smaller flights. We know what’s been happening over the past 50 yrs, the point is they recognise they need to change and they are at least talking about it so let’s hope they do.
Why don’t you just check flight bookings and see if it is true?
Great news!!
Thats a good improvement. Last time I travelled from London to DA in 2014 I left on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday and on my way back I left DA on Tuesday and arrived in London on the Thursday. Eeeek!
Armchair, next time you take a plane don’t walk.
Been doing it every year for 8 years never happened. Leave today Dominica next day by choice.
Nothing new here. Since night landing we’ve been able to do London to D’a same day via Antigua or even via B’dos with LIAT to D’a. Nothing new except WinAir doing the route till 6:30 pm.
In a way it’s still good that D’a doesn’t have to maintain an int’l airport with the huge empty flights while subsidising the empty seats:-)
DNO, I hope is not that ‘toy’ plane in the picture dem going to be using eh. After people travel on the comfort of a jumbo jet from London, to then find yourself shack up on a ‘toy’ plane say you coming to Dominica.
DNO what aircraft will WINAIR be using for this particular venture? Will it be a Dash 8 or an ATR 72/42 like the current LIAT fleet or some small ‘toy’ plane?
Why do we always have to stop in antigua?
It does not have to be Antigua. You can go via Barbados instead but you would have a long wait at Grantly Adams for your connecting flight to London and you must overnight in Barbados because the LIAT flight from Barbados to Antigua (via Dominica) leaves to early for a same day-connection. Alternatively one could take a ferry to either Guadeloupe or Martinique and fly to London via Paris (Orly) to London City Airport. It will entail an overnight stay in either of the French islands on the way back but, even including the expense of a hotel, the overall cost of your trip may well be be lower than traveling by Winair/LIAT and BA, /Virgin via Antigua, not least because you can book & pay online in Euros and the added bonus of arriving with all your luggage in the centre of Roseau. If you have no time constraints and sample some French cuisine on the way this route is certainly worth contemplating.
Sorry my friend but no flight to Paris is cheaper than BA to Antigua.
It may not be cost effective via G’loupe. Furthermore Antigua has a seriously thriving tourism industry that affords them the huge airport facilities, Dominica does not.
You may be pleasantly surprised. AirCaraib presently has an offer of return flights between either Point-a-Pitre or Fort-de France to Paris from Euro 424 return, all taxes included. That is an unbeatable E.C.1,300 in our own money. They operate several flight a day, every day of the week. There is an English version of their website if you wish to book direct.
Because we do not have an International Airport in Dominica!
Skerrit said “we doh want it because Antigua, and Barbados have one already.’
So, here is your answer!
Its to bad british airways cannot fly here direct and bypass antigua
Good news! I believe mr. Piper may be referring to the new service between Canefield and Antigua by Winair I reported on DNO on 11 May of this year. I hope that BA and Winair have an interlining agreement so passengers can check their luggage straight through from London to Dominica and those, who get inadvertently stranded in Antigua are not left to their own devices. This service would be operated by a twin Otter. Passengers can also book their passage from Dominica to Antigua (back to London ) the same way. That flight would leave Canefield at 15.35 hrs, arr. Antigua at 16.25 hrs. Pity that this not suitable for the competing Virgin Atlantic flight to London, which leaves Antigua at 16.45 with insufficient enough time for a transfer. This would give passengers a real choice as Virgin tends to be more competitive on pricing than BA.
Always VIA and never direct!!
Let us just be grateful for this baby step then work on the next step. One step at a time. WE NEED AN AIRPORT.
Go and live in Antigua and you can fly non-stop to London. Dominica is Dominica, yes less accessible but that is part of its attraction and uniqueness. For now I will be very happy with same day connections without long waiting times.
How many small towns in the U.S.A. of 72,000 inhabitants can you fly direct from to London (…or even New York!)?
There is no comparison, Dominica don’t
have the convinces.Stop talking garbage.
Yes! Thats why we are going to develop Island but save it unique, clear, calm and nature
Doreen you probably mean conveniences instead of convinces. Remember you have a choice. Personally, I’d rather live in Dominica than Antigua….for a start they can not brew a decent beer and their water is no comparison to our own Loubiere but that is my choice.
You are an idiot!
Guy are you are a fool? Every small city in the continental United States have an International Airport; some of them has more than one?
If you do not know what the you are talking about you need to shut you dumb mouth!
Since you know so much name one single place in America where you that Dominica idiot; attempted to travel to, and could not fly from one destination to another on an aircraft that is capable of doing Trans-Atlantic flights.
Guy San Francisco to Oakland California is less than a hundred mills apart, perhaps not even seventy-five miles, yet you can book a flight in San Francisco to Oakland on a 747, the flying time is five minutes, you can drive from San Francisco International to Oakland California in less than one hour, depending on traffic!
You need to cut it; just shut-up okay!
Because in one not too big interatlantic Boeing is approximately 150-200 tourist come to Island. One plane could load almost all hotels on Dom. I may continue, but think everything clear now))