(From The Antigua Sun, 04 February, 2002) (Antigua) Air Jamaica returns to Antigua. Air Jamaica will be resuming flights from New York to Antigua from June this year. Three weekly flights – on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays – are scheduled for the start of the new service. These will be non-stop flights between New York and V.C. Bird International, and the schedule will run throughout the summer months – from June to September. This information was revealed by Tourism Minister Molwyn Joseph at a media conference on a wide range of tourism issues last Friday. “This is a very important development for us here in Antigua,” said the minister. “We have always been challenged in getting airlift out of New York non-stop, and I am pleased that a regional airline, Air Jamaica, is working with the government of Antigua & Barbuda and other Caribbean islands to make these services available.” Flights will continue after September, but will come to Antigua via Montego Bay. Talks aimed at the scheduling of at least one non-stop flight per week during the winter season are continuing with the airline. Agreement has also been reached with Air Jamaica to engage in the joint promotion of this destination. To this end, Minister Joseph revealed that a new promotional product, Antigua Vacations, developed in conjunction with Antigua Hotel & Tourist Association, will soon be launched. “This will give Antigua & Barbuda its own identity and bring government and the private sector together in creating attractive packages so that we can get a bigger share of the market place,” said Joseph. “We envisage annually a joint venture promotional programme of half a million US dollars. Air Jamaica will match our funds so that we could have a very strong and penetrative type of marketing effort in the north eastern part of the United States.” The Minister also talked of the excellent relationships being developed with US Airways with the aim of providing a reliable service out of Philadelphia. The Minister was confident that the talks would lead to a new non-stop service to Antigua for the benefit of travellers from neighbouring Pittsburg and Washington as well as Philadelphia. “When you add that to Air Jamaica’s non-stop flights to Antigua, I think that tourism in Antigua & Barbuda has been given a little boost in terms of airlift out of these critical markets,” said the Minister. _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com