MONTEGO BAY, St James — MBJ Airports Limited, operator of Sangster International Airport (SIA), is reporting clear signs of improvement as flights continue to inch back towards pre-Hurricane Melissa numbers.

“The monthly data shows a consistent month-to-month recovery, and that year-over-year decline in flight frequencies narrowed from 33.2 per cent in January to under 20 per cent by May. Again, we are seeing [that] the destination continues to recover,” said MBJ’s CEO Shane Munroe during a virtual bi-annual airport forum held on Wednesday.

“Significantly, the average load factor is 84.6 per cent. That’s up 1.2 points over 2025, and that’s a strong signal of route health, and we expect airlines to continue to add capacity as the demand increases,” he added.

Munroe said cargo traffic has followed a similar trajectory. For the period, the port processed 1,732 tonnes of goods, representing a 19 per cent overall decrease compared to 2025, but now showing positive signs of recovery.

“We are seeing variances ranging from 29 per cent at the start of the year, but a notable improvement in May, finishing at just about 7.2 per cent variance year-over-year. We are seeing a stabilisation in our cargo traffic. Cargo recovery at MBJ is linked closely to passenger recovery because much of our cargo travels in the belly of passenger aircraft, and as passenger flights return, cargo capacity increases as well,” he explained.

Regarding airline market share, American Airlines remains the airport’s largest partner, commanding roughly 22 per cent of the market. This is followed by Delta at 14.8 per cent and JetBlue at 11.7 per cent, with WestJet and Southwest Airlines rounding out the top five.

Munroe noted that WestJet’s performance has significantly improved over the years due to its merger with Sunwing. He also pointed out traffic improvement by Copa Airlines and stability in Condor’s numbers.

The major source markets remain the same, with the US contributing the bulk of visitors even though its share has declined slightly from 72 per cent in 2025 to approximately 67 per cent in 2026. Munroe said the major US hubs — Atlanta, JFK, Charlotte, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando — remain critical, and he noted the significance of another section of North America.

“Whilst…we are seeing some decline over 2025 due to the impact of Melissa, Toronto remains important for us. Canada remains a major leisure market for Jamaica,” he said.

“UK, Europe, and Latin America are again the key market regions to Jamaica,” the CEO also pointed out.

Looking at passenger traffic by source market, the United States remains the dominant contributor to MBJ’s passenger traffic, currently accounting for approximately 67 per cent. However, there has been a decline in passenger numbers from the United States to 32.5 per cent compared to 2025. Munro attributed that to “the broader recovery environment and aircraft and airline capacity adjustments, and also room availability in Jamaica”.

Canada is the second largest contributor to passenger traffic, with 17 per cent of the overall share, despite being down 26 per cent year-to-date. However, there has been encouraging growth from emerging and diversified markets. Latin America has seen a robust growth of 43.9 per cent, while the European market is up 2.4 per cent.

“This is important because it shows the value of market diversification,” argued the CEO.

He stressed that the growth of some less traditional routes reveals several encouraging signs.

“Panama generated the highest absolute growth, adding nearly 14,000 passengers. We are also seeing strong contributions from our new direct service to Bogota. Birmingham also added 7,000 passengers, while Houston George Bush added 5,374. We are also seeing meaningful positive growth from Quebec, Malpensa, Zurich, and Edmonton in Canada. The key takeaway is that there are clear pockets of route-level growth. Strongest growth is coming from Latin America and select UK and European destinations,” Munroe said.