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Even more, MBJ worked with Ja-
maica’s Passport, Immigration
& Citizenship Agency (PICA) to
introduce the latest technolo-
gy to expedite the immigration
process into the country and
help reduce waiting times for
arriving passengers. To that
end, 30 automated passport
control kiosks were installed in
2018.
The airport is continuing to
grow, however. It currently con-
nects Jamaica to more than 60
international destinations, and
provides employment to more
than 7,000 people – those num-
bers are going to expand in the
coming years. Last year, the air-
port served a record 4.5 million
passengers – and is on track to
set a new record in 2019.
To meet the needs of that
growth, MBJ will continue their
campaign of improvements.
They will be adding more check-
in kiosks, adding more gates to
alleviate peak hour traffic. They
will also be adding solar panels
to the airport to reduce elec-
tricity consumption and will be
building a sea wall to protect
the airport from the potential
sea rise.
Most importantly, MBJ will con-
tinue to collaborate with their
tourism partners on programs
and initiatives that will improve
the visitor experience.
“We are in the midst of a very
exciting phase of development,
both on the air side and the
land side,” Rafael says. “We’re
expanding our facilities, we’re
introducing the latest technol-
ogies in terms of safety and
security equipment and we’re
improving our service offering.”
“The plan is to invest over $110
million in the next five years,”
he adds. “That’s unprecedented
in the history of the airport.”
“We’re truly at a crucial point
in the development of the air-
port,” he reiterates. “We’re com-
ing of age. We’re transforming
the airport. We’re transforming
the customer experience. We’re
creating a brand new airport.”
JUNE 2019