GAP reports Jamaican airport rebound as Melissa traffic losses ease

Jamaica’s pair of international airports is beginning to climb out of the disruption left by Hurricane Melissa, operator Pacific Airport Group (GAP) said in its latest quarterly figures. From April through June, Sangster International and Norman Manley International together took in about US$53 million from aeronautical charges and commercial operations — roughly 6.0 per cent below the same stretch a year earlier.

That quarterly shortfall has narrowed into single-digit territory. Over the first half of 2026, however, the two facilities still posted combined takings of about US$105 million, 10.8 per cent under the US$117 million recorded in January–June 2025.

GAP’s results stated that “revenues from the Jamaican airports decreased” chiefly because of a “16.9 per cent decrease in passenger traffic during the quarter, resulting from the impact of Hurricane Melissa”. A stronger Mexican peso versus the US dollar also reduced the dollar value of those earnings when they were translated into GAP’s reporting currency.

Even so, the quarterly passenger drop was milder than the 20.8 per cent contraction logged across the full six months, pointing to a softer Melissa-related hit as the months progressed.

The storm struck Jamaica last October and caused losses put at more than half of national output. Montego Bay, the country’s principal tourism entry point, absorbed the heaviest blow. Passenger numbers there slid 21.6 per cent to just under one million in the quarter, versus a 26.7 per cent fall over the half-year. Kingston’s airport saw smaller declines — 4.0 per cent in the quarter and 3.5 per cent across six months.

In peso terms, aeronautical income from the Jamaican sites was down 18.3 per cent in the quarter, a less severe slide than the 22.4 per cent half-year drop. Non-aeronautical income — from duty-free retail, restaurants, car hire and other terminal concessions — weakened markedly in the same three months. GAP linked the softer commercial take to fewer travellers and to a 10.9 per cent rise in the Mexican peso against the US dollar, which cut the translated worth of Jamaica’s dollar-based receipts.

EBITDA at the Montego Bay airport tumbled 28.8 per cent in the quarter and 30.3 per cent over six months.

GAP is nonetheless ploughing capital into its Jamaican holdings. Outlays to upgrade concession assets at the two airports jumped 190.7 per cent in the first half, led mainly by work at Norman Manley International. In late June, Wingo opened a three-times-weekly Montego Bay–Medellín route, extending South American links from the resort airport.

For the group overall, GAP’s updated 2026 outlook assumes passenger volumes will finish the year either unchanged or down by as much as 3 per cent.