Arriving Aircraft delayed at Providenciales International Airport

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks & Caicos Islands, Sunday, March 11th, 2018 – With Saturday being the busiest day for flights into the Turks and Caicos Islands, many factors including departure delays in North American cities led to congestion and arrival delays at Providenciales.

There was a total of twenty-seven (27) scheduled arrivals from North America on Saturday, together with local and regional scheduled flights and business aviation operations. Compared with previous Saturdays during the busy tourist season, there has been no increase in traffic which amounted to 166 movements yesterday.

The Miami Air Route Traffic Control Centre which handles traffic flying into the Turks and Caicos Islands routinely employs flow control measures and often hold aircraft enroute to regulate the flow of aircraft traffic destined for Providenciales and other nearby airports.

Providenciales Airport operates close to capacity on Saturdays and Sundays, and providing that there are no disruptions at the departure aerodromes or enroute weather diversions, delays are kept to a minimum or eliminated all together.

Providenciales International Airport experiences its peak movement between the hours of 12 and 4 p.m. due to the airlines scheduling for connectivity within their network. Airlines operate on a hub and spoke basis which dictate the arrival and departure times at airports such as Providenciales.

Due to the unusual circumstances yesterday, scheduled traffic had an average of 46 minutes delay, and two carriers opted to divert to their alternate aerodrome.

Airports Authority CEO, John Smith, acknowledged the cooperation of the two ground handling agencies at Providenciales airport who worked to minimize the impact of the disruption.