Decade of Caribbean flights for Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has marked the tenth anniversary of launching its flights to the Caribbean.

The airline began serving the island region in September 1998 when it launched flights from Gatwick Airport to Antigua, Barbados and St Lucia.

A number of other new flights followed, including connections to Grenada and Tobago in 2003, Montego Bay in 2006 and Kingston last year.

Virgin Atlantic's Caribbean services proved so popular that it extended them to the north of England, with flights from Manchester Airport to Barbados launched in November 2005, followed by a service to St Lucia the next year.

Steve Ridgway, the airline's chief executive, said: "Since we started flying to the Caribbean in 1998, we have carried over four million British holidaymakers who love the combined appeal of the beautiful beaches and year-round sunshine the Caribbean has to offer.

"The Caribbean is an important market for us and we are now the biggest operator to the region having added more Caribbean destinations, flying from Gatwick and Manchester to eight destinations on seven islands."

To celebrate ten years of its Caribbean flights, Virgin Atlantic will launch a ten-day music festival in Barbados on October 30th.

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