United Is Expanding Its Nonstop Service to This Popular Caribbean Island

Michael Cappetta
·2 min read
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The year-round flights to Barbados start in September.

<p>NAPA74/Getty Images</p>

NAPA74/Getty Images

It will soon be easier to visit a popular Eastern Caribbean island — just in time for the holiday travel season.

Barbados Tourism announced that United Airlines will start a new service from Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) and New Jersey's Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) to Barbados. The service from EWR begins on Sept. 30 and operates on Saturdays. Meanwhile, the IAD service starts on Oct. 29 and will operate on Sundays. Both routes will be available through at least the summer of 2024.

At the time of publication, an IAD to Barbados trip in December is as low as $663 in Basic Economy. For the flights from EWR to Barbados, Travel + Leisure spotted tickets in October from $472 roundtrip in Basic Economy.

Over 440,000 tourists visited Barbados in 2022, with the majority coming from the United Kingdom and the U.S. The island of Barbados, which is considered to be the "birthplace of rum," is best known for its beautiful beaches and cultural events like the Barbados Food and Rum Festival, the Barbados International Hockey Festival, and Barbados Open Water Festival.

According to a report from Caribbean Journal, the upcoming service is in response to consumer demand as "Barbados continuing to see a distinct rise in visitors from the New Jersey, DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas."

“We are all about building sustainable growth strategies for destination Barbados, to ensure that these partnerships, and by extension airlift, are long-standing,” said Eusi Skeete, the U.S. director of Barbados Tourism Marketing, in a statement obtained by T+L.

United Airlines isn’t the only carrier stepping up service to Barbados. JetBlue will be adding a second weekly flight between Boston and Barbados, and maintaining a second weekly flight between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Barbados.

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