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CARIBBEAN BUSINESS

January Passenger Traffic At LMM Airport 7% Higher Than In 2002. . .

But 7% Lower When Compared With Traffic In January 2001

By EVELYN GUADALUPE-FAJARDO

May 22, 2003
Copyright © 2003 CARIBBEAN BUSINESS. All Rights Reserved.

Passenger traffic at Luis Muñoz Marin (LMM) International Airport increased 7% to 857,000 in January 2003 compared with the same month last year, according to data compiled by InterVistas Consulting, a travel & tourism consultant for the government of Puerto Rico. However, January’s numbers were 7% lower than they were that month in 2001.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Co. hired InterVistas to assist a steering committee in implementing a number of air-access strategies. Of the 857,000 passengers in January 2003, approximately 655,000 came from the U.S. mainland (up 13% compared with January 2002) and 173,000 passengers originated from the Caribbean (down 11% from the year-ago figure).

Traffic at LMM International Airport in January 2003 outperformed U.S. systemwide traffic, which increased 3% from January 2002 but decreased 11% from January 2001. Cargo traffic at LMM International Airport increased to 43 million pounds in January 2003 compared with 41 million pounds in January 2002, a 4% increase. San Juan’s passenger airline seat capacity increased 2% from 1.27 million seats in January 2002 to 1.29 million in January 2003.

On the other hand, passenger traffic at Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla increased 132%, to 9,000 passengers in January 2003 from 4,000 passengers in January 2002. The increase was mainly due to North American Airline’s twice-weekly service departing from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport to Aguadilla and Continental Airlines’ flights from Newark to Aguadilla on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, with the return from Aguadilla to Newark on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Cargo traffic at Rafael Hernandez Airport grew by 4%, from 18 million pounds in January 2002 to 19 million pounds in January 2003.

In January, JetBlue added five daily flights from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York to LMM International Airport; US Airways began two weekly flights from Boston to San Juan; Caribbean Sun offered two daily flights from San Juan to Tortola and three daily flights from San Juan to St. Kitts; and Pan Am Airways offered four weekly flights from Aguadilla to Orlando, Fla., two weekly flights from Aguadilla to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, two weekly flights from Aguadilla to Santo Domingo, and one daily flight from Orlando to San Juan.

Weekly inbound nonstop frequency to LMM International Airport decreased 1%, to 1,404 flights in December 2002 from 1,412 weekly flights in December 2001. The number of seats available to LMM International Airport increased by 4%, to 132,342 in December 2002 from 126,948 in December 2001, in part because some of the airlines, including American Airlines, increased the size of their aircraft.

This Caribbean Business article appears courtesy of Casiano Communications.
For further information please contact
www.casiano.com

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