Two years after Hurricane Maria’s impact on Puerto Rico, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (LMM) in Carolina reported an increase in passenger traffic.

Jorge Hernández, CEO of Aerostar—the company that manages the operations of the island’s most frequented airport—told THE WEEKLY JOURNAL that by the end of the third quarter of this year, on September 30, the airport had received roughly 7.1 million passengers, both in incoming and outbound flights.

This, he said, reflects an 11 percent upsurge from the same time last year. Moreover, passenger traffic for the third quarter was 5.6 percent higher than the same three-month period in 2018 and 3.8 percent higher than in the same quarter in 2017.

Aerostar’s CEO added that the LMM airport has already surpassed its recovery stage and is reporting growth compared to pre-Maria levels. He observed that before the hurricane, the airport was reporting a “spectacular” tendency in terms of growth and passenger traffic, despite negative international media coverage due to the Zika epidemic that morphed into a public health concern. Meanwhile, 2016 was “the best year we had had before Maria.”

Despite the hardships that ensued, the most recent data for passenger traffic reflects a 3 percent increase in comparison to 2017 pre-Maria and 2 percent above the data collected for the same time in 2016. Aerostar expects 2019 to be the year with the highest volume of passenger traffic since the company took hold of the airport’s operations.

“After the first part of the year it has been clear that it is not an issue of recovering volume; we are observing volumes that are higher than what had been reported previously,” he said.

Hernández attributed this rise to several factors, such as decreasing concern about Hurricane Maria, which had hindered tourism in its aftermath. Puerto Rico’s recovery process extends to the Tourism & Hospitality sector, noticeable with the reopening of multiple hotels and lodging centers that had been forced to cease operations after the onslaught of the category 4 storm. Hernández also observed how the rise in Airbnb rooms has contributed to the booming interest in vacationing in Puerto Rico.

“[Increased passenger traffic] is also seen when the airlines broaden or increase their seat availability to the destination. In this case we could say that it is the highest number of seasonal seats we’ve ever had,” he stated.

For instance, Frontier Airlines has expanded its route availability numbers and the number of seats in existing routes. Next November, the airline will offer three weekly flights to Boston, Miami and Bradley, Aerostar’s CEO informed.

Likewise, Delta Airlines is bringing back some flights it used to provide “at season level,” such as the trip to Detroit, which will be available in December. Delta is also incorporating a larger aircraft, a tendency mirrored by other airlines.

“[Larger airplanes] have been seen with Delta, United [Airlines], and are being seen in the case of American [Airlines] as well. We are seeing how all airlines in one way or another have started to increase their seat availabilities,” Hernández said.

Meanwhile, Aerostar is in the process of outlining a five-year plan of capital improvements that include an investment of nearly $200 million.

“Much of the investment approach is directed to… tarmacs, ramp areas, etc., whose conditions are at the point where they require our focus and relevant investments in order to continue ensuring the operation’s safety and its best form so that the airlines can continue to operate,” Hernández explained.

The executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. (PRTC), Carla Campos, affirmed that the island’s commercial relations with the airlines are “stronger than ever and have generated a significant increase in seating capacity that serves the destination.”

“This has allowed a stimulation of the markets toward the destination of Puerto Rico. Likewise, this is a strong indicator that the efforts made by the destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico, are paying off,” Campos said in a written statement.

For his part, Discover Puerto Rico CEO Brad Dean reiterated that these numbers bring the tourism sector closer to breaking the number of visitors on the island.

"Total air access is at a 10-year high, surpassing 2015 records. Airlines are continuing to add seats into Puerto Rico; for Q1 2020, airlines have added 80 daily flights, a 67 percent increase from Q1 2019. Discover Puerto Rico will continue working with our partners in the tourism industry to attract more visitors to the Island to grow our economy," he told this correspondent.

-----------------

Editor's note: This story was published on the October 30 print edition of The Weekly Journal.