How many airline passengers flew to and from the islands?
In 2021, over 290 thousand passengers flew to and from the airports of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. This was almost 60 percent more than in 2020, but still 36 percent less than the over 457 thousand passengers in 2019. The number of flights (17.4 thousand) to and from the three airports was 38 percent higher than in 2020, but still approximately one third less than in 2019.
| maand | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 40.2 | 41.3 | 11.6 |
| Feb | 37.1 | 42.5 | 11.7 |
| Mar | 43.4 | 25.4 | 10.2 |
| Apr | 38.7 | 0.3 | 9.0 |
| May | 37.6 | 0.6 | 14.9 |
| Jun | 36.4 | 4.0 | 23.7 |
| Jul | 39.1 | 14.8 | 36.6 |
| Aug | 38.2 | 16.3 | 35.7 |
| Sep | 30.5 | 7.6 | 26.6 |
| Oct | 36.0 | 4.7 | 35.4 |
| Nov | 38.7 | 9.3 | 35.3 |
| Dec | 41.4 | 15.8 | 39.7 |
Bonaire airport fourth busiest in the Netherlands
Flamingo Airport on Bonaire handles nearly 90 percent of all air passenger travel to and from the Caribbean Netherlands. In 2021, almost 260 thousand passengers passed through the terminal on Bonaire, which was 62 percent more than in 2020.
15.2 thousand air passengers travelled to and from St Eustatius and 15.3 thousand to and from Saba in 2021, representing a respective increase of 15.6 percent and 68.8 percent compared to 2020. Most of these passengers travelled between July and end of December 2021. This share was over 73 percent on Bonaire, and 60 and 66 percent respectively on St Eustatius and Saba.
In both 2020 and 2021, Flamingo Airport on Bonaire was the fourth busiest passenger airport in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport.
Over half of all flights are to and from Bonaire
Flamingo Airport on Bonaire handles the most flights among the three overseas Dutch airports. Between 2019 and 2021, approximately 60 percent of all air travel to and from the Caribbean Netherlands was to and from Bonaire. Of the remaining flights in this period, 24 percent went to and from F.D. Roosevelt Airport on St Eustatius and almost 16 percent to and from Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport on Saba.
| kwartaal | Bonaire | St Eustatius | Saba | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Q1, 2019 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 0.8 |
| 2019 | Q2, 2019 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 2019 | Q3, 2019 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 2019 | Q4, 2019 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 |
| 2020 | Q1, 2020 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| 2020 | Q2, 2020 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 2020 | Q3, 2020 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| 2020 | Q4, 2020 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 |
| 2021 | Q1, 2021 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
| 2021 | Q2, 2021 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| 2021 | Q3, 2021 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.9 |
| 2021 | Q4, 2021 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 1.0 |
Majority of flights 2021 in second half
In July 2020, after flight restrictions in the Caribbean Netherlands had been lifted, there was a notable increase in air traffic to and from Bonaire. When COVID-19 restrictions for international airlines were lifted on 15 May 2021, most of the flights started going into and out of Bonaire again. Bonaire saw 6.4 thousand flights in the second half of 2021, i.e. an increase of 80 percent compared to the second half of 2020. The largest increase (114 percent) took place on Saba with 1.9 thousand flights in the second half of 2021, which was 1 thousand more than in the previous year.
More information about air travel to and from the Caribbean Netherlands