Fewer airline passengers to Aruba in the third quarter of 2005
A.M. Digital
10/28/2005

Although the number of passengers that go through Queen Beatrix International Airport are down this third quarter, -3.5% compared to the same quarter last year, aircraft movements are up 6.2%.

Less passengers from the USA (including Puerto Rico) caused the passenger numbers to have decreased.

A number of factors contributed to the decrease: the unusually high number of hurricanes affecting the US, the high price of oil that affects the cost of jet fuel and the negative media publicity in the US regarding the Holloway case. Contributing to the negative growth was also the Antillean operation; in 2004 Dutch Caribbean Airlines (DCA) was still operating. Only a small part of DCA’s regional network has been taken over by BonairExpress, a smaller airline that doesn’t have the same passenger capacity as DCA.

Our second largest tourist market, Latin America showed a significant growth, however, of 12.7%.

The higher number of aircraft movements is primarily due to more regional flights with relatively small aircraft.

General Aviation shows an increase of 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year; the presence of general aviation operator Universal Aviation Aruba as of April of this year is contributing to this considerable increase.

[English language original text]