The Minister of Tourism, Dangui Oduber met with the Airlift Committee for the latest developments regarding air traffic in Aruba. The airlift committee’s task is to find more airlines to add Aruba to their itinerary as a destination. Aruba is currently positioning itself as a very desirable destination for airlines.
Currently, 25 airlines are arriving from 28 different destinations, representing a 86% recovery rate of our tourism compared to 2019. The Air Seat Capacity for 2021 is 1,350,852, which is a 21% decrease compared to 2019. According to the outlooks for 2022, Aruba will see an Air Seat Capacity of 1,718,176.
In comparison with Mexico and other Caribbean destinations, Aruba is generating way more profit for the airlines. Hence, it makes Aruba a very desirable destination for airlines that more airlines want to fly to. An example is Frontier, which will initiate its first flight to Aruba from Miami starting November 20, 2021. Delta Airlines will also add the route Boston – Aruba starting December 18, 2021.
North America
The USA remains the most important market for Aruba. Of all flights, 92% come from the East, Midwest, and South of the USA. Research indicates that there are more opportunities for more flights from this area of the USA. There is ample room to stimulate the demand. According to the Minister, they are considering the exploration of the markets Pittsburg – Hartford – Cleveland, and Detroit. Soon flights from La Guardia – Chicago – Dallas, and Minneapolis, will resume which is very important and positive for Aruba.
South America
The South American market is also steadily growing each year and is also a very potential market for Aruba. Especially Colombia is one of the countries that is showing opportunities for growth of more destinations. Colombia is the biggest market in South America. There is plenty of interest for direct flights from Medellin and there are also actively exploring direct flights from Barranquilla and Cali.
Minister Dangui Oduber is satisfied with how tourism is developing and is very optimistic for the 2022 outlook. Let’s move forward together as a country and recover 100% of our tourism.
