LPIA Reaches Record 4.06M Passengers in FY2024

Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA) has achieved a significant milestone, welcoming a record 4.06 million passengers in fiscal year 2024. This remarkable performance surpasses the previous record of 3.99 million passengers set in FY2019, reflecting the airport's robust and steady post-pandemic recovery. LPIA also set a previous calendar year passenger record of 4.1 million in 2019 and is on track to surpass that number by December 2024.

In FY2024, passenger numbers increased by 9.27% YOY across all sectors: U.S., International and Domestic. A total of 2,863,556 million U.S., 449,988 International, and 747,388 Domestic passengers were recorded. This consistent pandemic recovery began in FY2022 with 2.8 million passengers across all three sectors and continued in FY2023 with 3.7 million. Officials at Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) attribute the success to strategic efforts and collaboration with industry partners.

Vernice Walkine, President & CEO of NAD, credited several factors for the record-breaking performance including new service to the destination, increased seat capacity on existing routes and expanded seasonal routes to provide more access to Nassau/Paradise Island.

“We’re absolutely delighted that for our fiscal year 2024, which encompasses the budget period July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 that we’ve actually had our best fiscal year ever,” she said.

“The demand for Nassau/Paradise Island has continued to be very strong. Post pandemic we’ve seen tremendous growth. Our key airlines have increased their seat capacity into the destination because they are seeing the demand.”

The airport’s total seat capacity reached 6.379M in FY2024, up 18% YOY and 11% over levels tracked in FY2019. U.S. sector seats accounted for 4.1M, an increase of 16% since FY2019.  International sector seat capacity expanded to 1.036M, up 41% over FY2019.

 Walkine said LPIA also exceeded pre-pandemic airlift numbers during FY2024: "This was due in large part to our partners who worked hand in glove with us to make sure that we could attract the additional airlift that we needed and make sure that we could accommodate it here at the airport.  The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism has done a number of missions to various markets; the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board (NPIPB) is very aggressive in meeting with the various airlines to talk about opportunities and so through all of the efforts of these partners we’ve been able to attract the additional airlift out of new gateways and also have the airlines add more seats out of traditional gateways as well."

Numbers for July, the first month of FY2025, show strong performance with 412,234 total passengers traveling through LPIA, 2.8% above the previous year. NAD anticipates the same trends in August. As passenger numbers continue to grow, airport stakeholders are committed to enhancing connectivity, improving the overall guest experience, and sustaining growth at the country’s main gateway.