Delta Air Lines Inc. is relaunching flights from Atlanta to the Caribbean island of Barbados, this time connecting to the former British territory with daily flights when it starts in November.

Beginning Nov. 23, the flight restores a nonstop connection to a nation of 280,000 people that in 2021 became a republic, removing the British queen as the head of state nearly six decades after gaining independence in 1966.

Barbados’ global profile has risen along with that of its outspoken Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has taken the developed world to task at multilateral forums for saddling developing countries with debt exacerbated by pandemics and climate catastrophes they didn’t cause.

A key destination for weddings, cruises and sun-and-sand tourism, Barbados’ boosters have spent time in Atlanta playing up the island’s international business platform and its role as a hub for captive insurance, fintech, medical cannabis, film and other key sectors. Invest Barbados hosted a Taste of Barbados cultural showcase and investment forum in Atlanta last April.

But having to connect via Miami or other hubs sometimes made the easternmost island in the Caribbean chain a tough sell versus closer destinations, tourism professionals and travelers have told Global Atlanta. The nonstop flight from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will be more than five hours, relatively long by Caribbean standards.

Delta is also increasing the frequency of its Atlanta-Curaçao flights from once a week on Saturdays, responding to increasing demand since the flight launched in December. That schedule will also go into effect Nov. 23, the same day a new flight will launch from Atlanta to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

See the full schedules of the new flights here.

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