Sangster airport bolsters earnings for Spanish owner
Published:Friday | September 2, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay attracted 32,000 more passengers over the first six months of 2011 compared with year-earlier levels, which hints of an expectant rise in tourism arrivals, data analysed by the Financial Gleaner reveals.
Government statistics lags to April, but the latest data from Spanish company Albertis, the parent of Sangster operator MBJ Airports Limited, show that passenger activity rose two per cent at midyear. That translated to about 32,000 more passengers than a year earlier, raising MBJ's total passenger activity to some 1.67 million over six months when estimated against other government data.
Rising activity at MBJ, the island's busiest international airport and the major gateway to the tourist centres, tends to be reflected in a similar rise in tourism arrivals. Stopover arrivals for the January to April period increased by 5.1 per cent at 732,748, compared to 696,889 in 2010, based on Jamaica Tourist Board statistics.
The increase in passengers contributed to raising Abertis Airports operating profit to €41 million (J$5 billion) over the first six months of the year, up 16 per cent from year-earlier levels, according to its recently released financials.
"Revenue and EBITDA both advanced, thanks to ... improved activity at MBJ (two per cent passengers)," said Abertis.
In the previous March quarter, Abertis also lauded the local operations for growing passengers 4.4 per cent over the same quarter in 2010.
Abertis' airports division has stake in 30 airports in nine countries, with a worldwide traffic level exceeding 80 million passengers annually. The division contributed 3.5 per cent of the conglomerate's total operating profit of €1.16 billion. The conglomerate includes airports, toll road, car parks, logistics and telecom operations.
Total passenger movement at MBJ Airport provisionally totalled 3.28 million in 2010, versus 3.24 million in 2009, according to the Economic Social Survey Jamaica government data from the Planning Institute of Jamaica.
Abertis invested over US$160 million in upgrading MBJ. It owns 75 per cent of the MBJ Airports, with Vancouver Airport Services controlling the other 25 per cent.