British Airways (BA) announced plans to increase flights to Kingston as part of its winter 2026 network expansion, a move that coincides with UK airlines running fewer but fuller aircraft on the route.
The airline said Kingston, served from London Gatwick, will go up to four flights per week, alongside a similar increase for Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Neil Chernoff, British Airways’ chief planning and strategy officer, said the changes represent “a significant investment in our long-haul leisure network, adding even more options and choices for our customers”.
He added: “We know there is short-term demand as a result of the situation in the Middle East. To support customers with alternative routes from popular destinations we have already launched additional flights, and we will continue to monitor customer demand and add flights to our schedule if we’re able to do so”.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and TUI Airways are the three UK carriers that fly direct to Jamaica. The added frequency comes as UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data showed total flights on the UK-Jamaica route fell to 366 in the third quarter of 2025, down from a post-pandemic peak of 446 in the same period of 2024, and below 394 in 2023 and 412 in 2022. Flights in the third quarter of 2021 stood at 238, still reflecting the effects of COVID-19-era travel restrictions.
Despite the decline, every service recorded between the UK and Jamaica in the third quarter of 2025 was at least half-full across London, Birmingham and Manchester airports. That pushed the high-load rate to a perfect 100 per cent, up from 98 per cent in the same quarter a year earlier. The CAA publishes this data in occupancy bands rather than precise seat-fill figures – a practice that protects commercially sensitive airline information – meaning a 100 per cent score indicates all flights cleared the 50 per cent capacity threshold, not that every seat was taken.
Jamaica’s performance broadly matched its Caribbean peers. Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Grenada also hit 100 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, while the Cayman Islands matched that mark and added four flights year-on-year. Trinidad and Tobago was the sole underperformer, dipping to 96.2 per cent while shedding 32 flights.
The BA expansion extends well beyond the Caribbean. The airline will launch two new long-haul destinations – Melbourne, Australia, from January 2027 and Colombo, Sri Lanka, from October 2026 – while adding a third daily Heathrow-Cape Town flight, boosting Houston to 12 flights per week, and making Baltimore a year-round daily service to Heathrow. StLucia also becomes a daily non-stop from London Gatwick from October 25, and Barbados gains a new daily Gatwick service with onward tag flights to Grenada, Guyana and Tobago.
business@gleanerjm.com
