Aruba Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA) will operate 80% of pre-pandemic schedules in June 2021 as load factors and frequencies recover.

The airport has brought back 20 of 28 carriers in just under a year since the island reopened to international visitors.

Load factors are up to 69.5%, compared to 85% in 2019, and services per day are 25 compared to 35. Aruba believes that by winter it could restore as much as 94% of 2019 traffic.

Routes planned to restart include a TUI service from London Gatwick (LGW), Air Canada flights from Toronto Pearson (YYZ) in September, and a daily flight to Amsterdam (AMS) by KLM.

“The demand environment is unquestionably positive, with our airlines adding new destinations and capacity by increasing the frequency of flights,” said Aruba air service development manager Jo-Anne Meaux Arends.

“We are confident that we will see a return to relative high volumes in the key July, August, September quarter.”

Photo credit: Rob Finlayson