British Airways has added Aruba and Georgetown (Guyana) to its network, two destinations you might not expect. Maybe Georgetown was what Gatwick's Chief Commercial Officer meant when he told me the airport is targeting more South American routes. BA has also made Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, standalone. It'll now be nonstop in both directions, no longer routing via St Lucia.

All begin next summer and are bookable. Before they materialize, Providenciales, in the Turks and Caicos Islands, shifts back to London Heathrow. It'll take off on October 29th via Nassau in both directions rather than via Antigua from Gatwick.

BA to begin Aruba and Guyana

With around 5,000 roundtrip passengers in 2019, Aruba isn't a large market from London. That's no surprise: it's in the Dutch Caribbean. As such, it's surprising that it'll be served, with BA to begin a Thursday and Sunday operation from March 26th, the day airlines shift to summer 2023 schedules. Like many of BA's thinner Caribbean routes from Gatwick, Aruba will be served on a one-stop basis.

In northern South America, Georgetown is another small market – although it's experiencing an oil boom – and will also be one-stop. According to booking data, it had around 9,000 London passengers in 2019. BA will take off to the Guyana capital on March 27th, with flights on Mondays and Thursdays. No doubt traffic will rise given the increased oil demand.

The schedule of both routes is summarized below, with all times local. Like all of BA's long-haul Gatwick routes, they'll use the B777-200ER.

  • London Gatwick to Aruba (via Antigua): BA2157, 10:00-16:30; 2x weekly
  • Aruba to London Gatwick (via Antigua): BA2156, 18:30-10:15+1
  • London Gatwick to Georgetown (via St Lucia): BA2159, 11:35-18:05; 2x weekly
  • Georgetown to London Gatwick (via St Lucia): BA2158, 19:50-11:45+1
BA's Caribbean and South American additions
Aruba (AUA) and Georgetown (GEO) are new additions to BA's network. Image: GCMap.

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London to Port of Spain

Port of Spain is a good-sized market from London, thanks to those of Trinidadian heritage in London. According to the UK CAA, BA had approximately 66,000 passengers. A further 15,000 transited en route with other airlines.

If BA is delinking the route and making it a nonstop terminator service, it must be confident that it'll perform well. London-Port of Spain has a history as a nonstop, albeit not with BA. They include with BWIA, before it sold its London Heathrow slots in 2007, and BWIA's successor, Caribbean Airlines, which ran from 2012 to 2016 despite significant, persistent losses and heavy competition.

Caribbean.airlines.a340-300.9y-tjn.arp
Caribbean Airlines was the most recent airline to have nonstop service between London and Port of Spain. Photo: Arpingstone via Wikimedia.

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BA started in 2017

BA introduced Gatwick-Port of Spain in March 2007, two months before BWIA ended the route from Heathrow. BA initially routed via Barbados before switching to St Lucia. It'll become nonstop on March 27th, with a Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday service. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:

  • Gatwick to Port of Spain: BA2239, 09:30-13:40
  • Port of Spain to Gatwick: BA2238, 15:40-05:15+1

Where else would you like the carrier to launch in the Caribbean and South America? Let us know in the comments.