Prime Minister Andrew Holness has announced that an additional US$70 million will be allocated to the further advancement of the Sangster International Airport.

In recent times, multiple videos have been circulating on social media with people showing long lines and chaos at the Montego Bay airport. The videos gained traction with many citizens and tourists demanding improved infrastructure and service workers to speed up wait times.

During a tour of the runway expansion project at the airport on Saturday (April 1), Holness said US$70 million was previously invested for runway expansion work.

“Another US$70 million of investments will take place in the airport itself. Now, I’m sure that is where many Jamaicans will also see the benefits because this is a major doorway into Jamaica, if you will, which many Jamaicans utilise. Right now we are seeing significant bottlenecks in receiving passengers because there are some unique issues to this airport because of the travel times…but generally the facility here is outdated and well below the requirements and the necessary capacity,” he explained.

As such, an additional US$70 million will be used to totally upgrade the airport, said Holness.

Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism said that the industry has recovered from the effects of the COVID pandemic, with the number of tourists visiting the island back to pre-pandemic levels. Last year, around 2.5 million visitors came to Jamaica and it is expected that the numbers will increase for 2023.