Airlift grows significantly as Jamaica gears up for busy winter season
Jamaica is gearing up for a busy winter season as the airlift to the popular Caribbean destination has been significantly increased.
According to the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) latest Winter 2027 Airlift Outlook, the destination’s airline partners have allocated 1,324,965 seats to Jamaica for the January to April 2027 period — an increase of 251,739 seats, or 23.5%, over the same period in 2026.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett said: “Our airline partners have given Jamaica a strong foundation for the winter season which reinforces their confidence in us. The risk of the destination being underserved by airlift has been significantly managed down, and we expect the seats now committed to support strong occupancy across all segments of the accommodation sector. Our focus now is on converting those seats into bookings.”
The outlook shows steady improvement over the past 60 days, with further airline confirmations in the most recent fortnight.
The strongest gains over 2026 are from Canada, up 62.1%, the United States, up 23.1%, and Latin America, up 2%. Canada and Latin America are also running above 2025 capacity.
Donovan White, Director of Tourism, said: “Our teams in the various markets will continue to work with airline, tour operator and hotel partners to convert seats into bookings, while monitoring schedules, booking pace and reopening dates. We are grateful for all our stakeholders who are working to ensure we achieve this conversion.”
Overall winter seat capacity is 7.6% below the 2025 level, or 92.4% of 2025. Approximately 3,500 rooms, or 10% of hotel stock, are expected to remain unavailable during the period, leaving roughly 90% of full room stock in operation for the Winter period.
The rooms expected to remain unavailable reflect the continuing recovery of Jamaica’s accommodation sector following Hurricane Melissa. The JTB will keep tracking hotel reopening dates alongside airline schedules, so that seat capacity and room availability remain aligned as properties return to service.
