MONTEGO BAY, St James — Work will begin on expanding the Sangster International Airport runway next week, slightly ahead of March 31, which was originally mooted.

“The preparations have been made, the requisite equipment is on the ground, and you should see some activity beginning next week,” chief executive officer at MBJ Airports Shane Munroe told the Jamaica Observer on Tuesday.

His update comes days after Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett announced that visitor arrivals into the country are back at levels seen before the novel coronavirus struck in 2019. The virus hobbled the global tourism industry, but the recovery, which began last year, appears to be holding as the virus abates in some of Jamaica’s major markets, including sections of Europe.

“We are looking forward to receiving an ever-increasing amount of wide-body and long-haul aircraft from destinations as far as Europe and beyond. This project will ensure that we have the right runway aviation infrastructure to meet these goals while enhancing the safety of aircraft operations to meet international requirements,” Munroe said.

The proposed runway expansion will add 398 metres, for a total length of 3,060 metres. There will also be work done to add 90 metres of runway end safety areas (RESAs) at both ends of the runway. The scope of the work will also include new runway edge lights.

Munroe said everything was in place to ensure that operations are not negatively impacted by the project once it begins.

“We don’t anticipate any disruptions; we knew well in advance what these works would involve and so that has been coordinated, in terms of the programme, to prevent disruptions,” he said.

The runway expansion project is part of a US$70-million move to improve infrastructure at the airport. Just recently a 46 per cent addition was done to the apron that now allows for aircraft to better navigate the gates. “Now they no longer have to reverse to access the runway,” said Munroe.