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CBS - Statistics Netherlands

02/23/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 02/23/2021 08:37

Over 60 percent fewer air passengers in the Caribbean Netherlands

Passenger traffic to and from Bonaire was 58.3 percentdown on 2019. On St Eustatiusand Saba, the number of air passengers declined by 68.7 and 70.5 percentrespectively.

Jan 37 40 41
Feb 34 37 42
Mar 39 43 25
Apr 37 39 0
May 36 38 1
Jun 35 36 4
Jul 38 39 15
Aug 36 38 16
Sep 29 31 8
Oct 34 36 5
Nov 34 39 9
Dec 40 41 16
*provisional figures

Sharp drop in air traffic following COVID-19 measures

During the first two months of 2020, the airports of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba saw a total of 4.3 thousandaircraft movements, i.e. a year-on-year increase of 3.9 percent. This was mainly due to a higher number of flights to and from Bonaire, from 2.5 to 2.7 thousand. The measures implemented in March 2020 to combat the coronavirus crisis were clearly visible in the subsequent months. Total air traffic in 2020 stood at 49.2 percentof the number in 2019.

Of the three overseas Dutch airports, Flamingo Airport on Bonaire has the highest number of aircraft movements and passengers. Last year, the number of flights at this airport fell by 50.5 percent: from 15.7 to 7.8 thousand. F.D. RooseveltAirport on St Eustatius and Juancho E. Yrausquinon Saba recorded a year-on-year decline of 53.5 and 47.4 percentrespectively.

Jan 1948 2221 2202
Feb 1704 1873 2052
Mar 2051 2071 1361
Apr 1935 1960 241
May 1916 2080 299
Jun 1809 1919 677
Jul 2074 2248 1380
Aug 1950 2233 1333
Sep 1682 2092 660
Oct 1939 2305 615
Nov 1954 2301 746
Dec 2103 2292 1022
* provisional figures

Most passengers flying to and from Bonaire

On 14 March2020, Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba closed their airspace for inbound passenger traffic from Europe and from other high-risk countries. In April and May, when there were only a limited number of repatriation flights, barely one thousand passengers travelled to and from these three islands. In the same period one year previously, this was 76.3 thousand, representing a 98.7-percent decrease. As of 1 July, a limited number of tourists were admitted to Bonaire, which led to a higher number of air passengers in July and August. Nevertheless, passenger numbers on this island were 58.0 and 51.3 percentlower respectively relative to the months of July and August 2019.

In 2020, a total of 160.5 thousandair passengers passed through the terminals of Flamingo Airport on Bonaire, accounting for 87.8 percentof all air passenger traffic to and from the Caribbean Netherlands that year. The airports of St Eustatius and Saba handled 13.2 and 9.0 thousandpassengers respectively.

Jan 34.1 35.0 6.1 6.2
Feb 31.6 36.5 5.5 6.0
Mar 37.1 21.9 6.2 3.5
Apr 32.6 0.2 6.1 0.1
May 31.3 0.4 6.3 0.2
Jun 30.5 3.5 5.9 0.5
Jul 32.4 13.6 6.7 1.2
Aug 31.7 15.4 6.5 0.9
Sep 25.5 6.9 5.0 0.7
Oct 30.1 4.2 5.8 0.5
Nov 32.3 8.4 6.4 0.9
Dec 35.2 14.4 6.2 1.5
*provisional figures