British Airways strengthens ties to St Lucia

British Airways this week reaffirmed its commitment to St. Lucia as one of its long-standing Caribbean destinations.

The event took the form of a cocktail reception at the picturesque Stony Hill on the evening of Monday June 3, 2013. In attendance were Government and Tourist Board officials, specially invited guests, local media personnel and British Airways executives, who flew in from London for the occasion.

Diane Corrie, Commercial Manager, Caribbean for British Airways extended a warm welcome to officials and specially invited guests. Head of Commerical at London Gatwick, Colm Lacy said British Airways is very proud of its relationship with St Lucia. He told the gathering: “The success of that partnership is all about the relationship that we have with St Lucia. Our partners include government, hoteliers, tourism officials, ground handlers, the air and seaports authority, the taxi drivers and tour operators.”

He added: “From a British Airways perspective, we’ve invested in new aircrafts and focused on customer service and strengthened our brand, allowing us to deliver our promise to our customers ‘To Fly. To Serve.’ Lacy described British Airways’ partnership with St. Lucia as “a model for success.”

Claire Bentley, Managing Director, BA Holidays discussed the success of BA Holidays. She said: “We’ve been investing significantly in the business; we’re updating our technology; we launched language selling, so we now sell in five key European languages which opened-up new markets for us.”

BA Holidays recently launched deposits online, which has attracted more early bookings because customers like the convenience of being able to book early and pay for their vacation over a period of
time. Customers can access a wide range of holiday options through the Holidays Link on ba.com.

Tourism Minister, Lorne Theophilus, thanked British Airways for its long and continued relationship with St Lucia. He commended BA Holidays for the significant growth in business over the last two years.

British Airways has been operating flights from London to the region since 1946, bringing visitors and reuniting family and friends. British Airways operates four classes of service to St Lucia and Barbados – offering First Class, Club World, World Traveller plus and World Traveller.  The St Lucia and Barbados flights operate from London Gatwick.  British Airways’ St Lucia flights from London continue to/from Port of Spain, Trinidad. This helps to support intra-regional tourism and trade across the region.

In addition to flying in hundreds of thousands of British and European visitors (supporting local economies) BA travellers also include many people visiting family and friends in both directions.

British Airways is seeing increasing interest in inter-regional travel, with strong onward connections from St Lucia to Port of Spain.