Arrival of Aurora Anguilla aircraft.
ANGUILLA--An excited gathering of government officials, Aurora Anguilla Resort and Golf Club staff and press gathered at Anguilla’s Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, October 6, to witness the inaugural arrival of the Aurora Airlines Embraer 170 direct from Florida, the United States (US). On board was Richard Schulze, owner of the Aurora Anguilla Resort, previously known as CuisinArt Resort.
One of the private fleet of four Aurora Airlines aircraft acquired by Schulze to transport Aurora Anguilla Resort guests to and from departure ports on the US east coast direct to Anguilla, the inaugural flight appeared on the horizon approaching the runway at approximately 1:55pm local time. After circling the airport in a symbolic fly-by, the aircraft landed to cheers and a water salute from the airport’s fire trucks.
Managing Director of the resort, Simon Fricker met Schulze at planeside and walked with him to the reception area, where various government ministers and tourism officials welcomed him and praised his decision to choose Anguilla as the place for his resort. Chairperson of the welcome ceremony and Director of Tourism Stacey Liburd introduced acting Premier Kenneth Hodge for opening remarks. “It is a momentous occasion in the life of Anguilla to see the birth of this new airline in Anguilla and the benefit that it will bring to this island,” Hodge said.
Parliamentary Secretary Quincia Gumbs-Marie and Minister of Tourism Hayden Hughes also expressed their pride and joy in welcoming the airline onto the tarmac of the Clayton J. Lloyd airport. Gumbs said, “It says something that when confronted with the issue of limited airlift and access to Anguilla, Mr. Shultz and his team worked on solutions to improve airlift instead of turning to a destination with better airlift. This demonstrates that Aurora Anguilla is in it for the long haul. Today we celebrate what can be done with what we have.”
Schulze thanked everyone for their prayers and comments. He said, “We intend to be an integral part of this community. We genuinely care about the whole value of partnerships. I believe business together with government together with the population of this great country can obviously do great things. Working side by side we can make great things happen as we create partnerships with win-win outcomes.”
He said the resort with its nearly 500 employees will continue to do more of what is better within the framework of a resort, while trying to do what is better and more resourceful for the population as a whole. We are working with the government to find new and better ways to invest, to make Anguilla more successful as a nation. We believe a role of business in any country is to work side by side with the community to make it stronger.
The resort will have a soft opening in early December, with the official opening slated for December 15. Schulze highlighted some of the resort upgrades and improvements to include upgrading the current 18-hole golf course to the standard of being ranked among the best 100 in the world, as well as building an additional short, nine-hole golf course ready for operation in February 2022. A family entertainment area will be constructed to include a water park, a lazy river, tropical parks and a 500-seat live entertainment stadium which will feature both local and overseas talent.
