Ahead of this year's Routes Americas forum, Routesonline is providing a snapshot on the leading airlines and airports and most used aircraft types across the region. Here we look closely at the airports serving the Caribbean and highlight the region's top performers.
The data is all supplied by OAG Aviation using its OAG Schedules Analyser tool.
Scheduled Air Capacity From the Caribbean (2005 - 2014)
Our analysis of published schedules for the past ten years shows that air capacity within and from the Caribbean has risen from 40,559,386 available seats in 2005 to 41,688,853 available seats in 2014. This represents a growth of 2.8% across the period, with an average annual growth rate of 0.3%. The market was in decline during the first half of this period but returned to growth since 2010. In the past year, capacity increased 4.6%.
Top Ten Airports in the Caribbean Market (2014)
Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico dominates the Caribbean market with a 12.2 per cent capacity share. Two airports in the Dominican Republic are in the top three for capacity share, with Punta Cana International Airport holding 7.6 percent, and Las Américas International Airport wih a 5.6 per cent share. Punta Cana has also witnessed the strongest growth rate in the Caribbean, with a 16.2 per cent increase since 2013, as well as the greatest increase in capacity share in comparison to 2013, registering a 0.8 per cent change.
Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and Tobego, and Princess Juliana International Airport in Sant Maarten have registered a considerable growth rate in comparison to 2013, both with an 8.1 percent increase.
Fastest Growing Airports in the Caribbean Market (2010-2014)
Looking at capacity data in the region across a five year period, it is Juan Gualberto Gómez Airport in Varadero, Cuba that has seen the greatest amount of growth since 2010, as the only airport to more than double its growth with an increase of 121.4 per cent. Significant growth over the five year period has also been achieved by Punta Cana International Airport, (82.8 per cent) Cibao International Airport in Santiago in the Domincan Republic, (49.9 per cent) and José Martí International Airport in Havana, Cuba (22.2 per cent).
Data comparison between 2013 and 2014 shows that Norman Manley Airport in Kingston, Jamaica has registered the highest growth of airports in the Caribbean, with an increase of 20.8 per cent, despite a decrease in growth overall since 2010. Cibao International Airport in Dominican Republic follows closely behind, registering a 20.6 per cent increase between 2013 and 2014. Punta Cana International Airport saw a growth of 16.2 per cent during the period, followed by Port-au-Prince airport in Haiti, a 12.6 per cent growth since 2013.
Scheduled Caribbean Capacity by Aircraft Type
The chart below shows which aircraft types were most prevalent in the Caribbean market during 2014. The schedule data shows the Boeing 737-800 (738) is the most widely used aircraft type in this market with a 15.9 per cent share of available seats with overall network capacity up 9.6 per cent between 2013 and 2014.
The second most utilised aircraft type in this market is the Airbus A320 (320) with a 13 per cent share, while third most widely operated type by network capacity is the Boeing 757 (757) with a 5.0 per cent share.
The biggest rise in annual capacity among the top ten aircraft types were recorded by the ATR 72 (AT7) with a 67.9 per cent rise in available domestic seats in 2014 versus 2013. The largest decline in annual capacity was recorded by the older generation ATR (ATR) with a fall of 29 per cent versus 2013.
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