MANCHESTER will be Air Jamaica’s second UK departure point once the airline’s Heathrow services are made daily.
The carrier’s chairman Butch Stewart told Travel Weekly last week that he was working towards daily Heathrow-Montego Bay flights for next summer.
Once this is completed the carrier will turn its attention to offering departures from Manchester.
Chief executive Chris Zacca said the airline is already considering the northwest city as a second UK base as it currently loses traffic to Jamaican-bound charter carriers from Manchester.
He said: “Our strategy is to expand to maximise our UK business potential.”
The launch of Manchester services is at least two years away as the airline needs to acquire more long-haul Airbus A340 aircraft for the transatlantic routes.
Zacca added that Manchester services would be launched in conjunction with other new European services from Germany, France and Italy.
Destinations under consideration include Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and Munich.
In the meantime, Air Jamaica is to increase UK traffic by feeding more passengers onto its Heathrow flights by signing agreements with airlines serving the airport from around Europe.
Zacca’s main target is British Midland.
“We are actively seeking a codeshare agreement with British Midland,” he said.
This will allow Air Jamaica to tap into the UK airline’s growing European network for growth.