Barbados in talks with Nigerian airline Air Peace to launch direct flights: PM Mottley

Barbados: The Government of Barbados are presently engaged in significant discussions with Nigerian Airline ‘Air Peace’ to launch direct flights to the island nation. The development was confirmed last week by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley during the 31st African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Annual Meetings in the Bahamas. She said that if accomplished, this step will be a major step in strengthening travel links between both the regions.

It is also to be noted that Air Peace is a major investor in the soon to be relaunched regional airline LIAT.

While the Prime Minister did not yet mention a timeline on when a formal agreement might be made but she definitely expressed her confidence that the negotiations will soon be successful. She further emphasized the significance of air connectivity in easing not just trade in good and services but also the movement of travellers.

Mottley outlined that she thinks her administration is much closer to seeing the development now happen. [caption id="attachment_72291" align="aligncenter" width="2048"] PM Mottley while speaking at 31st African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Annual Meeting[/caption]

She noted that there are charters that are presently being discussed, and his administration met with the officials of Air Peace just a day before the meeting and with the tourism people to be able to see how they can have that linkage move because once it begins to create that link, the rest will become history.

Not only this, but the Acting Chief Operating Officer of Afreximbank’s CARICOM Office, Okechukwu Ihejirika, also said that Nigeria had approved the plans to operate direct commercial flights to Barbados. He said this earlier this month and also mentioned that the launch timeline was still unclear. With the development coming into reality, a major hub will be created in the Caribbean region for African travelers seeking to travel to Barbados or the neighboring countries for vacations.

PM Mottley also mentioned that Air Peace has made an investment with Antigua in Liat 2020 so it is being anticipated that they will be well placed to also have the hub and spoke approach if it can come off the ground.