Sangster rebounds
Welcomes 5 million travellers, forecasts 5.2 million by year-end
Published:Monday | December 18, 2023 | 12:07 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Highlighting a resilient rebound from the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport has notched a remarkable achievement by welcoming its five millionth passenger for the year 2023.
With optimistic projections, the airport foresees concluding the year with a total passenger count of 5.2 million.
This news coincides with the commencement of the winter-tourist season and marks the 20th anniversary of MBJ Airports Limited’s management of the facility.
Significantly, statistics reveals that, for the first time in its history, the airport exceeded 500,000 passengers in a single month, specifically during July this year.
MBJ Airports CEO Shane Munroe, in underscoring the growth, stated, “The five million passengers so far this year represent a 13-per-cent increase over the 2019 record of 4.7 million passengers and a 20-per-cent rise from 2022.”
He emphasised the facility’s resilience and capacity to recover and receive amid challenges.
Munroe noted ongoing additions to services, with the introduction of two new airlines to Montego Bay in the past week. Although passenger and aircraft movements continue to rise, cargo lags behind pre-pandemic levels.
The return of service to Toronto is influencing cargo dynamics, especially in air freight carried on passenger aircraft departing from Canada, which lacked dedicated air freight service.
US dominance
In terms of market share, the dominance of US travellers is evident, constituting 75 per cent of air traffic, followed by Canada at 14.7 per cent and the United Kingdom at 7.6 per cent, with additional destinations, such as the Caribbean and other parts of Europe.
Among airlines, American Airlines holds the top spot with 23.8 per cent of the market, followed by JetBlue at 14.6 per cent and Delta at 11.4 per cent. Key routes for 2023 include New York, experiencing significant growth post-pandemic, and Toronto at the second spot.
While introducing new routes, several projects are under way as part of the multi-million-dollar upgrade of the facility. The completed runway project earned the distinction of Project of the Year from the Jamaica Institute Engineers.
Munroe attributed the airport’s success to visiting friends and relatives and the significant contribution of tourism traffic. He commended tourism stakeholders for establishing resilient corridors that played a pivotal role in recovery efforts, contributing to the booming aviation industry.
MBJ’s success, Munroe noted, was also backed by various measures and actions of the Government of Jamaica and the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ). Looking forward, by December the airport aims to enhance efficiency by reconfiguring the loop for arrivals, optimising passenger pick-up and traffic flow between departures and arrivals.