Aruba Airport Surpasses the One-Million-Seat Capacity
Aruba Airport Authority N.V. (AAA) is excited to share that 2018 resulted in another successful year in terms of Revenue Generating Passenger (RGP) figures for commercial passengers and flights. RGP figures for commercial passengers were up by 1.7% and RGP figures for commercial flights were up by 8.7%, compared to 2017.
Additionally, Aruba Airport marked a major milestone in 2018 by surpassing the one-million-seat capacity mark for the first time in history. Aruba Airport is one of the busiest airports in the Caribbean region, with 29 different airlines contributing in processing over 2.5 million passengers per year.
Aruba Airport managed to secure a host of new airlines and destinations over the past year, as well as greater flight frequencies from existing airline partners.
North America has seen additional Saturday scheduled service from New York and Boston by JetBlue, with higher aircraft yields overall and destination branding efforts continuing to increase the passenger flow traffic.
Delta Air Lines and Sun Country announced the introduction of air service from Minneapolis on Saturday and mid-week (new). In addition, Delta Air Lines, encouraged by the high load factors, converted Saturday weekly seasonal service from Boston to Aruba into a scheduled service on a year-round basis.
A highlight of 2018 was the announcement of two new American Airlines flights from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Dallas represents not just a new gateway into the Midwest, but also connections beyond this point into Western markets such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco. In addition, American Airlines is expanding its presence with a third daily service from Miami to Aruba for the winter season, adding a total of 85 additional flights for a total of 13,800 additional seats. The route will be operated by a B737 – 800. Currently, American Airlines operates two flights per day from Miami, double daily flights from Charlotte, and five weekly flights from Philadelphia. For the upcoming winter, including all new services from Dallas, Chicago, and Miami, Aruba Airport will accommodate a total of 42 weekly flights operated by American Airlines.
“The figures continue to indicate that the efforts in place for continuous development at Aruba Airport are paying off. As a team, we can be very proud of closing off another successful year and look forward to 2019. We are expecting additional services that will greatly benefit the destination and passengers who are looking for more options to fly to and from Aruba,” said AAA’s air service development manager, Jo-Anne Arends.