Editorial | Mayhem at the airports

We were barely over the chaos created by a shutdown of the Norman Manley International Airport on July 21 when airport mayhem hit passengers at the busy Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on Thursday, because of a runway closure.

The Norman Manley shutdown in July, which affected at least seven flights, was attributed to a delay in restoration of power following scheduled maintenance. More than 50 flights were hit Thursday. Some were cancelled while others were diverted to Kingston amid issues with ongoing runway extension work at Sangster.

Airport expansion is necessary if the country is to increase its capacity to accommodate more traffic and establish greater connectivity, and there are great economic benefits to be derived from such projects. However, these events remind us anew of the complexities involved in operating an airport.

Increasingly, airports have moved away from public sector management and it is estimated that more than 500 commercial airports around the world have introduced various forms of private sector management, as they seek to meet the demands for innovation, responsiveness and efficiency required by the industry. This explains the motivation for the government awarding Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), the largest private Mexican airport operator with a portfolio of 12 airports, a 30-year concession to operate, manage and develop the Sangster airport in 2003.

Generally, positive reviews and endorsements have been earned by GAP subsidiary MBJ Airports Limited over the past 20 years, aided by a US$309-million investment at Sangster. For the past 13 years, the airport has been recognised by industry experts as the Caribbean’s leading airport. Some impressive statistics show them handling greater passenger loads than pre-COVID-19 levels.

The Airports Authority of Jamaica might have envisioned that the group’s success at Sangster would be replicated at Norman Manley when PAC Kingston Airport Limited (PACKAL) signed a concession agreement as part of a broader modernisation strategy to position Kingston as a regional business hub. PAC announced that it would spend more than US$200 million over five years to upgrade runways and buildings at the two airports. In this unusual competitive situation, it does appear that Sangster is getting more attention than Norman Manley.

The challenges of COVID-19 notwithstanding, this newspaper has not been impressed with PAC’s management of the Norman Manley Airport. We have called attention to the absence of simple improvement projects and what looks like a deterioration in some basic services, as lamented by readers in letters to the editor. PAC has not implemented any discernible capital works.

We are not privy to the terms of the 25-year concession agreement signed by PAC in 2018. However, we assume that their key responsibilities must include the administration and management of airport infrastructure; coordination and management of airport activities, as well as ensuring that the airport is operated safely and efficiently to the benefit of both external and internal customers.

Passengers are looking for a positive experience in an airport terminal, and cleanliness and ambience play a role in providing that experience.

We assume that performance standards have been set out in the concession agreement and that the board of the Airports Authority has been insisting that PAC’s performance be measured against those standards. Surely, the board must have heard some of the complaints about malfunctioning toilets, poor ventilation and leaking roofs. We wonder, what has been done?

Minister of Transport Daryl Vaz was assigned to that portfolio in May and he has revealed that several complaints about airport operations have already reached his ears. We urge the minister to initiate a performance appraisal of PAC’s activities at the Norman Manley Airport, and ask that he report to the country what is the timetable for PAC to implement capital works at Norman Manley International Airport. If PAC is not performing as expected, then there ought to be penalties.