The state-led Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) wants a consulting firm to develop a master plan for Sangster International Airport to span the next two decades for the nation’s largest gateway.
The project comes as Hurricane Melissa last October led to travel disruption and contributed to the reduction in airport revenue.
The master plan, according to the tender, will “provide an up-to-date planning basis for a 20-year [projection from] 2034 to 2054 in relation to airport development and facility requirements”. The tender makes clear that the plan must explicitly support negotiations for “the next concession arrangement”.
Consultants are to submit bids by May 20 for the contract that commences in November.
The master plan time period will overlap with the expiry of the current public-private concession agreement held by MBJ Airports Limited. That agreement, originally signed in 2003 for 30 years, was extended to 2034 following a rebalancing exercise arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The consultant will be required to prepare aviation forecasts of passenger traffic, cargo , facility assessments, environmental analyses, and a capital improvement programme. The document adds that development concepts must account for “climate hazards, disaster risks, public health and security disruptions, and long-term operational resilience” – language that reflects directly the lessons of Melissa.
“The Airports Authority of Jamaica seeks to engage a qualified Airport Planning Consulting Firm to develop the Airport Master Plan for Sangster International Airport,” it states . “The purpose is to provide current data, forecasts, facility assessments, and planning recommendations necessary to support the further development of the Sangster International Airport.”
Sangster, as Jamaica’s largest international gateway, handling “over 5 million passengers annually”, the vast majority being international arrivals.
That figure has taken a significant hit. Sangster handled 4.47 million passengers in 2025, an 11.6 per cent decline from 2024, according to MBJ Airport’s majority shareholder Pacific Airport Group (GAP).
The storm, which made landfall on October 28, caused damage to the terminal. Photos from inside Sangster showed major damage to gate areas, including a caved-in roof at the concourse hosting gates one through five.
The tender document records substantial infrastructure investment already committed – including “a US$26-million taxiway resurfacing project; a US$70-million runway expansion and associated works to meet ICAO safety requirements, plus protect the facility from storm surges”. A phased solar energy programme is also under way, reducing reliance on the national grid by up to 33 per cent.
Sangster International is state property, owned by the AAJ. In 2003 the AAJ handed day-to-day control to MBJ Airports Ltd under a 30 year concession covering operations, maintenance and development. The arrangement was later renegotiated in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the concession’s end date back one year to 2034. GAP controls 74.5 per cent of MBJ Airports Ltd with the remaining 24.5 per cent held by the Canada-based Vantage Group.
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