More lift Nation News - Monday 28, October-2002 by JULIE WILSON Virgin Atlantic Airways is adding 860 seats a week to Barbados out of the British market from next year. Regional manager Judith Wilcox told the DAILY NATION yesterday that the two aircraft would be operating out of London's Gatwick and Manchester airports. She disclosed that in a few weeks a sixth carrier would be added to the long-haul route on Wednesdays for the large volume of travellers expected around the Christmas period. Wilcox said bookings were good with only a "couple of seats" left. Despite recording a loss of $92 million in revenue for the financial year April 2001 to May 2002 by the Virgin Group, which includes Virgin Cargo and Virgin Holidays, Wilcox said she was confident of an extremely good winter this year and next year. She said tapping into the Manchester market was essential because there was a great demand from travellers living in the north who wanted to holiday in Barbados. She said although BWIA launched their Manchester-Barbados service in the summer, she expected that Virgin would also do well. "British travellers feel very safe in the Caribbean and that is why there is such a great demand. "Although the airline is four years old, there is a great demand for the Caribbean as a destination and wherever there is a demand we intend to expand our services," she added. On Saturday night, the British carrier held its first awards ceremony at Sandy Lane Hotel's Country Club for dozens of local travel agents. Making reference to the airline's financial year, Wilcox thanked the agents. Four years ago, she said, there were only six flights a week from the Caribbean to London, but today traffic had grown to nine flights from Barbados, St Lucia and Antigua to London. Wilcox disclosed that next year, 16 flights a week would be added. She said St Lucia would benefit from an additional direct service from February, Antigua a third weekly flight from May and there would also be the launch of a weekly flight from Grenada and Tobago to London. St James Travel received the Valued Agent Award, the highest offered by the airline, for the most sales by a travel agency. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (I95.5FM) http://www.i955fm.com (Radio Station I95.5FM) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************