The Thomas Cook UK maiden flight for the 2018/2019 winter season landed at the Banjul International Airport on Thursday afternoon with 205 tourists.
The Airbus 321 which flew direct from Gatwick to destination was received at the Banjul International Airport by the officials of the Gambia Tourism Board led by Adama Njie, director of Marketing and as well accompanied by the officials of the Gambia Tours and Thomas Cook destination manager.
In this ongoing season Thomas Cook which is an international grand tour operator that plies The Gambia will be flying into the destination eleven to twelve times a week from both Nothern Europe, UK and Holland throughout the season as Thomas Cook Scandinavia has increased its flight capacity from a load factor of 9,000 to a load factor of 17,000 for 2018/2019 tourism season.
Adma Njie who received the tourists confirmed the number of tourists onboard the airbus 321. He said Thomas Cook maiden flight for the winter tourism 2018/2019 and will be flying 9 times a week from UK notably from three different departures which among are Gatwick, Birmingham and Bentley.
He disclosed that for the first time Thomas Cook will also be flying direct from Holland to The Gambia “which is a good thing for the destination” that made them optimistic than even last year.
He noted that this year’s flight frequency to the destination is bigger than previous years and “the first maiden flight received at the opening of the season also added to the portfolio of the flight frequencies.”
In addition, he said all things been equal the arrival of tourists into the destination this year will surpass the 200,000 projected for 2018 and coming to 2019 there will be flight from Germany during summer to close the gap of the green season.
Author: Yunus S. Salilu
