Though St. Kitts has had some measure of success in luring new air service in recent years, the impact on visitor arrivals remaimed only marginal for the first month of this year.

If one is to be guided, for instance, by figures recently released by the St. Christopher and Nevis Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), there was very little growth in arrivals in the first month of 2013, when compared to the same period in 2012. Less than 20 additional passengers travelled to the destination this January when examined against the numbers for January last year.

According to figures obtained from SCASPA’s Statistics Department, 11,880 passengers arrived at the Robert L. Bradshaw Airport in January this year, compared to 11,866 for January last year.

This is an increase by only 14 passengers or a 0.12 percent change. This is somewhat of a disappointment especially when one factors that since January 2012 new flights have been added from the main source market; the United States.

Passengers departing registered a 0.46 percent increase with 12,242 passengers leaving in January 2013 compared to 12,186 in January 2012.

Figures also indicate that the number of flights arriving at the RLB International Airport increased by 91; from 540 in 2012 to 631 in January 2013. This was a 16.85 percent upward move. Flights out also registered a 16.16 percent increase in January 2013, with 647 departures compared to 557 in 2012.

The Port Authority is also reporting that cargo figures are showing double digit increases in both inbound and outbound cargo, in January this year, compared to the same period last year.

Cargo in increased from 25 tons in January 2012, to 42 tons for the same period in 2013, up 67 percent. Cargo out increased 73 percent in January 2013, moving from 20 tons in 2012 to 35 percent in 2013.