Phillips warns securitised airport cash flows will burden future Jamaican budgets

KINGSTON, Jamaica—Opposition spokesman on transport Mikael Phillips has charged that “the Government’s short-sighted decision” to securitise future earnings from the country’s two main international airports to meet budget needs, including the SPARK road initiative, has “effectively mortgages the future of the next generation”.

Phillips delivered the criticism on May 13 as he spoke in the Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives. SPARK (Shared Prosperity through Accelerated Improvement to our Road Network) is a $45 billion effort aimed at fixing more than 660 roads in all 63 constituencies.

He said the 2024–2025 securitisation has tied government receipts from Norman Manley International Airport and Sangster International Airport to other uses, “fundamentally altering the incentive structure of airport governance for years to come”.

“The irony is stark; while airport funds are diverted to road works, the actual access to our airports and their logistical integration remain woefully suboptimal,” Phillips said. “This securitisation creates a climate of future fiscal rigidity that we can ill afford. By grabbing these future concession cash flows today, Jamaica has severely restricted its future flexibility,” he added.

Addressing members, Phillips said, “We now face intense pressure to protect airport revenue at any cost, a situation that threatens to distort sound, diagnostic policy”.

He contended that although the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) publicly backs modernisation, figures point to a near $200 million shortfall for the 2026/27 financial year—a sharp reversal from a $600 million surplus a year earlier. Phillips said the AAJ has long run profitably, which makes the slide more worrying.

He cautioned that “The long-term repercussions are grave: reduced leverage to renegotiate concession terms, pressure to hike fees, and a diminished ability to benefit from growing passenger growth numbers, since future flows are already well spoken for”.

“The central question is whether we have converted a future revenue stream into an asset that truly bolsters national productivity. Unless SPARK delivers measurable gains in logistics and transport, we have merely borrowed,” he said.

Phillips also cited operational troubles over the past year, stating that “we witnessed embarrassing operational failures, including electrical maintenance issues that caused unscheduled closures and chaos for travellers”. He urged stronger upkeep standards and recalled 2025 hurricane damage at Sangster that hit infrastructure, disrupted flights, and cut income.

“While Norman Manley has seen some improvement, it remains commercially anaemic compared to its true potential. Ian Fleming remains strategically neglected, failing to mature into the regional gateway it was promised to be”, he told the chamber.

Phillips called for an Airport Economic Zones Policy to expand logistics, warehousing, and backing for perishable exports. “We must transform these terminals into genuine economic platforms,” he said.