AIRCRAFT carrying relief supplies to Jamaica should start landing at Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston by Thursday, but commercial flights will remain suspended until later this week.

As Hurricane Melissa moved away from the island Tuesday evening, minister with responsibility for transport Daryl Vaz told the Jamaica Observer that the plan is to open NMIA for relief flights on October 29, with regular flights resuming on Friday or Saturday.

But with the western end of island more severely impacted by Melissa, Vaz said there was no immediate timeline for the reopening of Sangster International Airport (SIA) in Montego Bay, St James.

NMIA was shuttered last Saturday as Melissa approached the country, while SIA was closed at noon on Sunday.

At a media briefing at the National Emergency Operations Centre in the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) in New Kingston Tuesday morning, Vaz said he has had consultations with PACKAL, operators of NMIA, and the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), about when the airport would be able to accept emergency flights.

“The assumption is that the system will leave Jamaica by the end of the day today [Tuesday]… and that the impact on the Norman Manley International Airport is not extensive.

“Both PACKAL and JCAA will use [Wednesday] to inspect and clean-up the facility and restore the test equipment that has been decommissioned to accommodate flights. These emergency relief flights could therefore be accommodated as early as Thursday,” said Vaz.

“We’re not sure what will happen with Montego Bay… so we are unable to say anything on Sangster but we know it could have a potentially disabling impact for that airport.

“The good news is that the Ian Fleming International Airport is being considered as a part of contingency planning,” added Vaz.

He told the media briefing that Petrojam, the State-owned oil refinery, has up to three weeks of aviation fuel stored in Montego Bay and Kingston.

According to Vaz, Petrojam has assured that all three international airports are at 75-80 per cent capacity for aviation fuel, allowing for the immediate resumption of aircraft movement after the passage of Melissa.