Ken Jones airfield seeks flight path to growth with 20-year master plan

Ken Jones Aerodrome sits about 30 minutes by car from major Port Antonio hotels and attractions such as the Blue Lagoon, yet traffic underperforms at the facility, slipping from about two aircraft movements a day last year to about one.

The Government now wants an expert to develop a 20-year plan for the Portland-based aerodrome.

“The master plan will establish a strategic framework guiding the aerodrome’s long-term planning, development, operation, and investment needs,” the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) stated in its tender, released on Friday. The AAJ said it wants a plan that is technically sound, economically viable and environmentally responsible, while supporting future aviation demand, regional economic development, tourism growth and resilience to natural hazards. It is the latest step in the AAJ’s effort to upgrade the island’s network of smaller airfields.

The tender says the AAJ will fund the consultancy itself. It did not give a contract value.

The tender arrives as traffic at Ken Jones, near Port Antonio on Jamaica’s northeast coast, is falling. The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority reported 113 passengers arriving and departing at Ken Jones from January to March 2026, down from 138 a year earlier, a drop of about 18 per cent. Back in the 1990s, the aerodrome averaged 12,000 passengers a year, when Air Jamaica Express served it.

The decline is part of a broader slowdown at Jamaica’s domestic airfields. Combined movements at the domestic aerodromes and Ian Fleming International Airport fell 23 per cent in the quarter, to roughly 3,690 from 4,800. Passenger totals at those facilities fell about 7.0 per cent, to about 13,240 from 14,290.

THE ECONOMICS

The AAJ manages Ian Fleming International Airport directly, along with the domestic aerodromes at Ken Jones, Tinson Pen in Kingston, and Negril. The authority has budgeted $9.5 billion for capital projects in 2026-27, the most since the pandemic, with $2.1 billion earmarked for Ian Fleming and the domestic aerodromes.

Ken Jones costs are reportedly 600 times its revenue: it generated income of $383,000 from 2020 to 2025, while incurring $222 million in maintenance costs and $19.3 million in security costs, according to AAJ figures obtained by The Sunday Gleaner.

Across the island’s four aerodrones, the AAJ has acknowledged that they aren’t operating at a profit, but argues the facilities serve as cross-country connectivity.

Over the last two decades, Government planned to upgrade Ken Jones and the Negril Aerodrome airfields to international port-of-entry status. It hasn’t happened yet. In 2019, however, a pilots’ lounge was opened at Ken Jones.

The most visible precedent is Ian Fleming International Airport in St Mary, which was upgraded to an international airport with border control services in fiscal ending 2011. Its traffic has been slow to build, though the AAJ credits American Airlines’ Miami service for a jump to over 14,000 passengers a year.

business@gleanerjm.com