2 months ago
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Fort Lauderdale in Florida now accounts for the busiest destination for air passengers leaving Kingston.
January was the highest-ever arrivals recorded, said Sitara English-Byfield, CEO of PAC Kingston Airport Limited, also referred to as PACKAL, which manages the Norman Manley International Airport.
“Fort Lauderdale is the number one city for the first time,” said English-Byfield at the airport forum hosted by PACKAL in New Kingston last Thursday.
“For all of NMIA’s life, I believe it was always New York followed by Fort Lauderdale,” she said.
The arrivals from Fort Lauderdale increased 25 per cent, or nearly double the 14 per cent growth in New York. Other cities in the top-destination list are Miami, Toronto, Atlanta, London, Grand Cayman, Port-of-Spain, Santa Domingo, Panama City, and Nassau.
Byfield said that Caribbean Airlines added daily flights to Fort Lauderdale, up from three weekly since March; as did JetBlue.
Across the nation’s three international airports, the carriers with the largest market share are JetBlue, Delta Airlines and Southwest.
In Kingston, total passengers grew to 428,100 from January to March end, or 9.2 per cent higher compared to year earlier levels. That figure counts arrivals and departures going through the airport. The airport handles about two million passengers per year but has a potential for some five million passengers, airport executives told the Financial Gleaner.
Jamaica’s largest airport, Sangster International in Montego Bay, recorded 1.3 million total passengers, or 8.3 per cent less year on year.
Kingston benefited in January from a large concert, which featured the first performance by a dancehall artiste in over a decade.
PACKAL will be extending the NMIA runway, at a cost of US$70 million. It will create a 300-metre buffer for equipment at the end of the 2.7-kilometre runway.
Work will begin in June and end in 2027, English-Byfield said.
Other projects highlighted in the past include repaving of the apron to resurface the area where planes are parked, at a cost of US$53 million; rehabilitation of the taxiway, at a cost of US$10 million; and additional solar power capacity, US$6.8 million.
The Montego Bay and Kingston airports, which are under the control of the Pacific Airport Group of Mexico, generated revenue of US$148 million and US$87 million, respectively.
English (US) ·