Jamaica’s largest airport struggles with overcrowding and understaffing
Travelers at Jamaica’s largest and most visited airport have had to wait in long lines due to a shortage of staff members and a surge in international visitors.
Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay saw 1.18 million passengers from January to March. This number represents a 94% increase when compared to the same period from the previous year, according to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, as reported by The Associated Press. In addition to this, Bartlett added that the peak season of tourism in Jamaica had reached an all-time high.
The dramatic increase in the number of visitors caused “long queues and hours-long waits,” but despite this, Bartlett pointed out that improvements in technology and the elimination of paperwork at the border are helping to reduce wait times.
“The recovery has been stronger than anticipated and everybody all over the world is having difficulty with their airports because ... (many) of the workers have not come back,” Bartlett further explained to the AP.
According to Travel Pulse, the Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, recently said that “making Jamaica more competitive with other countries in the region” is one of the goals of the $70 million modernization and expansion project that is currently underway at Sangster International and is scheduled to be wrapped up in 2025.
The project to expand the airport is an essential component of the strategy developed by the Ministry of Tourism to boost the number of annual tourist arrivals in excess of five million by 2025. This represents an improvement of 35% in comparison to the 3.7 million people who visited in 2022.
Sangster is operated by MBJ Airports Ltd., a partnership with a subsidiary of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico of Mexico owning 74.5% and Vantage Airport Group of Canada the remaining 45%. In the first 18 years of its 30-year concession, which started in 2003, the consortium asserted to have spent $287 million on airport upgrades, notes the AP.
As part of the enhancements, the runway at Sangster International Airport will be extended and additional space will be added to both the immigration area and the departure lounge. Furthermore, at least sixty brand-new self-service kiosks will be installed throughout the facility.
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This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Jamaica’s largest airport struggles with overcrowding and understaffing."