Throughout the second quarter of this year, 2 percent fewer passengers were registered at the airport compared to the same period last year. However, there are additional seats available – some 7 percent, the Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) declared.
“In general the numbers of the second quarter are encouraging”, says AAA-director Peter Steinmetz. “The dwindling in the number of passengers is less abrupt than the first quarter.” The statistics of airport Reina Beatrix are ‘pretty good’ putting it side by side with the worldwide statistics reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In April, the airport registered a decline of 1.8 percent in the number of passengers, in May that was 2.4 percent, and in June, it dropped to 1.5 percent, comparing them with the same months in 2008. The capacity of seats raised in April to 28.5 percent. In May, this expansion declined to 10 percent, and in June, the capacity decreased with 0.8 percent.
While the aviation industry is still under pressure, a few American airline companies have increased the number of available seats on flights to our island in the second quarter, according to IATA.
JetBlue Airways, Delta Airlines, and US Airways increased their capacity with respectively 39.6 percent, 20.4 percent, and 11.6 percent compared with 2008. The AAA announced that the daily flights of Martinair – standing in for KLM – resulted in a capacity growth of 133.3 percent, on the European market. Besides, summer-charter Thomson Holidays from London, England – who now flies to the island every week – provided a 66.6 percent increase of seat capacity. In addition, tour operator Pullmantur arranges for weekly flights of cruise passengers boarding and disembarking the cruise ship Ocean Dream. The increase in seat capacity on the South-American market is mainly due to the new regular service of Copa Airlines, Panama, and extra flights from Surinam Airways from Paramaribo.
