At any given moment during the peak season, the bustle inside Sangster International Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay tells a story of Jamaica’s tourism resilience — wide-body aircraft lined up on the tarmac, planeloads of sun-seekers eager to start their vacation, and a terminal operating near full capacity.

“It’s a tourist destination airport, a lot happens in the peak…everybody wants to start their vacation at the same time and so we have no choice but to respond decisively,” CEO of MBJ Airports Limited, the operator of SIA, Shane Munroe told the
Jamaica Observer during a recent tour.

That urgency is driving a sweeping overhaul of Montego Bay’s gateway airport, one that combines physical expansion, digital transformation and a rethink of how airports serve not just travellers, but the economy they support.

Among the headline projects happening at SIA is the East Concourse expansion, a US$11-million development that will extend the airport’s lounge footprint by 1,500 square metres while adding two new aircraft stands, bringing the total to 21. These designated parking spaces for planes are essential for managing simultaneous arrivals and departures, particularly as more wide-body aircraft are routed to Montego Bay.

The additional stands are part of a broader long-term vision to scale apron capacity in line with rising demand from airlines and the hotel sector. Munroe noted that the last million passengers added to the airport’s throughput all came during the peak season — further reinforcing the need to build ahead of demand.

“This is where we park our wide-body aircraft — your 787 Dreamliners, Virgin, TUI jets — and it gets extremely crowded during peak hours, so we’re adding two stands,” Munroe said, pausing to point out the markings on the tarmac just beyond the terminal windows. “Over here,” he continued, gesturing to the building’s edge, “we’re pulling out the façade, widening the lounge, and building for simultaneous operations. You want passengers to have space to move and to wait comfortably. That’s what we’re solving.”

New food and beverage kiosks and retail stores will be introduced as part of the project. MBJ is upgrading its amenities to include more public-facing retail and dining options that can be accessed before and after security. A new Mother’s Café is expected to open next month in the check-in area, and additional commercial offerings are being planned for the general public and airport staff.

In the future, MBJ is also considering experiential features such as children’s activity zones or gaming lounges to give both arriving and departing passengers — especially those travelling with families — more to do while waiting for flights.

“Vacation starts the moment you land, but it should continue until the moment you leave,” Munroe said. “We want the airport to feel like an extension of your holiday…” Munroe said.

Work is set to begin within weeks, with the contractor already selected and a one-year timeline in place. As is typical in an airport environment, construction will take place largely at night to avoid disruption to passengers.

The expansion comes amid a broader capital programme valued at US$112 million, running from 2020 to 2025. The next five-year investment cycle is currently being finalised, but Munroe confirmed that additional aircraft stands and gate infrastructure will remain a top priority.

“This is not a one-off push. It’s part of a rolling plan to stay ahead of passenger demand. We’re already seeing the early signs of what we’ll need five years from now, and that includes more gates, more apron space, and more commercial experiences,” he said.

The works are unfolding as the airport approaches a record five million passengers annually, the majority of whom are international tourists. It’s the kind of growth that’s both welcome and complex, especially for an airport whose traffic is highly concentrated around the traditional winter peak and increasingly, the summer months.

“Sangster is not just Jamaica’s busiest airport. It’s the country’s primary gateway for visitors,” Munroe told the Business Observer. “Roughly 70 per cent of our passenger traffic is inbound tourists. When you add that to the fact that most of our growth comes during the busiest months, you quickly realise that we don’t have the luxury of slow periods to catch up on infrastructure.”

Complementing the physical works is a technology transformation designed to digitise more of the passenger journey. Sangster has already deployed e-gates, biometric processing, and mobile C5 immigration forms for arriving passengers. The next phase involves rolling out self-bag drop systems, which will allow outbound passengers to tag and check their luggage without visiting a staffed counter.

The new self-bag drop stations will launch this year as a pilot project in three locations across the terminal. Once live, they will allow travellers with pre-printed bag tags to skip traditional check-in lines and proceed straight to security.

Addressing questions about whether the new self-bag drop system could lead to bags being misplaced, Munroe was quick to reassure.

“For the self-bag drop, it’s going to feed into an existing system that already works,” he explained. “Every bag gets a bag tag, and that tag identifies which aircraft it’s going on. It’s a very detailed and meticulous process. They have to reconcile all the bags checked in. They can’t fly with a bag that doesn’t belong to a passenger — that’s an international regulation. So missing and lost baggage here is not really a major issue at all.”

As Sangster moves to implement biometric technology across more touchpoints in the terminal, concerns around data privacy have not gone unaddressed. Munroe explained that the systems are not only tested but also aligned with international standards, given the airport’s primary markets.

“We are an international airport. Our clientèle is from the United States and Europe. So they have some of the most stringent data privacy regulations,” he said. “We align ourselves to be compliant with standards such as GDPR… and even our internal processes are aligned with ISO. So we take data privacy very, very seriously.” General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive data privacy law enacted by the European Union (EU) in 2018.

He added that the biometric roll-out is done in partnership with the airlines, meaning the systems must also meet the expectations of foreign carriers and their home jurisdictions.

“It’s their systems on our platform, and we have to ensure or guarantee to them also that we are compliant with these data protection standards,” he said.

“The goal isn’t biometrics for its own sake. It’s about cutting wait times, reducing queues, and letting people get on with their journey,” Munroe continued. “We’re already seeing this in arrivals…once passengers realise they can breeze through with digital forms and e-gates, they embrace it.”

The three-hour rule

Even with new tech in place, Munroe insists that the airport still encourages passengers to arrive at least three hours before departure, particularly when checking bags.

“The bag still has to be screened, reconciled, and loaded within the timelines required by international aviation standards. But the point is, once you’re here, you should be able to move quickly and enjoy the space. It’s not about rushing. It’s about making your experience as stress-free and seamless as possible.”

MBJ Airports Limited, the private consortium that operates Sangster, does so under a 30-year concession agreement with the Airports Authority of Jamaica. MBJ is jointly owned by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), which holds 74.5 per cent, and Vantage Airport Group, with the remaining 25.5 per cent. GAP, which operates a dozen airports across Mexico including Los Cabos and Guadalajara, brings technical depth and operational expertise to Sangster’s growth strategy.

“The value of being part of a group like GAP is that we can benchmark against similar tourism destinations, draw from shared experience, and adopt solutions that have already proven effective,” Munroe said, when asked how Sangster benefits from its shareholder’s expertise. “We’re in constant coordination with them.”

Under this landlord model, MBJ provides the infrastructure and coordinates closely with stakeholders — airlines, Club MoBay, customs, immigration, ground handlers — to ensure a smooth operation. While the airport doesn’t directly employ most of the front-line service workers, it plays a central role in designing systems, enabling technology, and ensuring the standards match global expectations.