Bahamas airport shatters records: 4.06M passengers in fiscal year 2024

Bahamas: In a significant development, the Lynden Pindling International Airport, also known as LIPA in the Bahamas, has achieved a major milestone after welcoming a record 4.06 million passengers during the fiscal year 2024. 

According to the information, this remarkable performance has surpassed the earlier record of 3.99 million passengers which was made in Fiscal Year 2019 (the best year for tourism so far), showcasing the airport’s solid and steady post pandemic recovery. 

Not only this, but LPIA also set an earlier calendar year passenger record of 4.1 million in 2019 and is on the right path to surpass that number by the end of this year. 

It was also announced by the Bahamian tourism officials that in Fiscal Year 2024, the passenger numbers increased by a whopping 9.27 percent year on year across all sectors, including U.S., International as well as Domestic, with the passengers 2,863,556 million U.S., 449,988 International, and 747,388 Domestic being recorded.

They added that this consistent pandemic recovery started in Fiscal Year 2022 with 2.8 million passengers across all three sectors and continued in Fiscal Year 2023 with a record 3.7 million. 

Moreover, the officials at the Nassau Airport Development Company attributed the success to strategic efforts and partnerships with industry partners.

The President and CEO of NAD, Vernice Walkine, credited many factors for the record-breaking performance, including new service to the destination, increased seat capacity on several existing routes, as well as expanded seasonal routes to offer more access to Nassau.

She added that her team is absolutely delighted that for the fiscal year 2024, which encompasses the budget period July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 that they have actually had the best fiscal year ever. 

Walkine noted that the demand for Nassau island has continued to be very robust and following the pandemic, the destination has seen tremendous growth as major airlines have increased their seat capacity into the island because they are also seeing the increased demand. 

Meanwhile, the airport’s total seat capacity reached 6.379 million during this fiscal year, up 18% year on year and 11% over levels which were tracked back in 2019. 

Also, the U.S. sector seats accounted for 4.1 million, which is an increase of 16 percent since the year 2019, and the international sector seating capacity was enhanced to 1.036 million, up by 41%.

The CEO continued to say that LPIA has also exceeded pre-pandemic airlift numbers during this fiscal year. She stated that this was due in large part to the company’s partners, who worked hand in glove with them to ensure that the island could lure the additional airlift that it needed and make sure that the team could accommodate it at the airport.

In addition to this, the numbers for July, the first month of FY2025 also shows a very impressive performance with 412,234 total passengers travelling through LPIA, up by 2.8 percent the previous year.