Three months after Hurricane Melissa ravaged western Jamaica, international Terminal Passengers passing through Montego Bay Sangster’s International Airport fell, a sharp 37.7 percent from 456,200 last year January, to only 284.200 this year.
At the same time, Kingston’s Norman Manley international airport saw a 7.2 percent fall over the same period with 155,000 passengers, down from 167,000 last year, data released on traffic by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operator of both airports, shows.
Montego Bay’s January numbers improved slightly over December, last year, which declined by a much sharper 43.8 percent from 467,400 to 262,600 and Kingston with a decline of just 2.7 percent to 172,200 from 177,100.
The decline means that the country lost around US100 million net in December and January.
The Jamaican airports were not the only ones to experience sizable declines, albeit not as severe as in January. Tijuana fell nearly 11 percent and Manzanillo in Mexico slipped 11 percent.