Bahamas Airlift Falls 8.5 Percent in Four Years

The head of Atlantis has expressed anxiety over the level of airlift coming into the country from The Bahamas’ major source market ahead of the opening of Baha Mar, after official figures obtained show that such airlift into Nassau declined by 8.5 percent in the four years between 2010 and 2013.

George Markantonis, president and managing director of Atlantis, told Guardian Business that the number of seats coming into Nassau is presently “not adequate” to support both resorts, despite a slight uptick of 3.4 percent in the numbers in 2014.

However, other key stakeholders, including the head of the Nassau Airport Development Company and the Bahamas Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), were more circumspect about the decline in recent years and expressed optimism sufficient airlift will be in place when Baha Mar opens in December.

US Department of Transportation data obtained by Guardian Business shows that in 2010 a total of 1.56 million seats entered Nassau’s Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) on 14,692 flights departing the U.S. In 2011, this figure fell by 10.2 percent to 1.4 million seats arriving on 12,715 flights.

In 2012, the situation improved: Nassau was able to eclipse the 2010 seat figure as the level rose by 11.8 percent over the previous year to 1.56 million. These seats came in on 14,499 flights.

In 2013, the picture again turned gloomier, with seats falling by 8.9 percent to 1.42 million, arriving on 13,754 flights departing the US.

For the year to date, up to July, seats coming into LPIA from North America rose by 3.4 percent to 930,933 as compared with 900,191 in the same period last year.

The fall revealed over the past four years has come despite ongoing efforts by the ministry of tourism, its hotel partners and the airport to increase the number of flights coming into the country from the main tourism source market of North America.

Source: The Nassau Guardian