Passengers boarding a Winair aircraft at Saba’s Juancho Yrausquin Airport. (Suzanne Koelega photo)
SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS–In 2017, there were nearly 21,000 aircraft movements to and from the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands, which is an increase by five per cent on the previous year. In Bonaire and St. Eustatius, the number of flight movements increased by over ten and over seven per cent, respectively. With the smallest airport in the Caribbean Netherlands, Saba recorded a decline of nearly sixteen per cent, Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reported, based on new figures.
The number of flights to and from Saba dropped because of Hurricane Irma in September 2017, for example. This caused many problems in the region. Saba’s airport was closed for a week and a half, and regular air-traffic operations were disrupted for weeks. In September 2017, 90 flights were operated to and from Saba, versus 260 in the same month one year previously.
In Statia, air traffic came to a standstill for a short period after the hurricanes as well, and operations were temporarily disrupted, as a result of which the number of aircraft movements dropped slightly in September 2017.
After Irma had passed, air traffic in the last quarter of 2017 exceeded the level of 2016 again, with the number of flight movements rising by over 19 per cent year-on-year.
Although air traffic increased in the Caribbean Netherlands, the volume of air traffic passengers dropped by over six per cent in 2017. Compared to 2016, there were more flights carrying no or few passengers.
The sharpest decline in arriving and departing passengers was seen on Saba. In 2017, nearly 26,600 passengers flew to and from the island, down by almost 13 per cent on the previous year.
Flamingo Airport in Bonaire recorded 323,100 passenger movements, over five per cent fewer than in 2016.
Airplanes flying to and from Statia carried 37,800 passengers, a decrease of nearly 11 per cent relative to 2016.
In 2017, passenger departures from the Caribbean Netherlands’ airports dropped by seven per cent on the previous year and arrivals dropped by six percent.
In total, the three airports welcomed 194,000 thousand passengers. At 193,000 there were slightly fewer departures. More than 162,000 passengers arrived at Bonaire’s airport, which recorded 161,000 departures.
The airports of Statia and Saba received 19,000 and 13,000 inbound tourists, respectively. The number of travellers departing from these two smaller airports stood at 19,000 and 14,000, respectively.
Saba’s Commissioner Bruce Zagers stated in an invited comment he was not surprised by the figures. “We lobbied while recently in the Netherlands for the granting of a new license for air connectivity to Saba, seeing that the capacity to Saba is still very limited. Our biggest argument was substantiated when I met with the tourism stakeholders and they confirmed that at this point flight connections to Saba is by far the biggest problem, as flights are generally full and no new flights are being added to accommodate travellers. As it is right now, the first and last flights are mostly full of persons travelling for medicals and the midday flight is shared with Statia.”
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/75203-five-per-cent-more-air-traffic-in-the-caribbean-netherlands
View comments
Hide comments