By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas’ major airport gateway is poised for “robust” travel numbers this Thanksgiving holiday, its operator confirmed yesterday.

Vernice Walkine, Nassau Airport Development Company’s (NAD) president and chief executive, said high demand from both American and Canadian travellers is driving a “really robust” season and a strong end to 2025 for Lynden Pindling International Airport (LPIA).

Speaking to reporters yesterday, she said Americans are prioritising travel despite economic uncertainties, especially during the Thanksgiving period, and this strong demand is benefiting the Bahamas’ tourism sector.

“We are excited to indicate that our passenger numbers for the Thanksgiving holiday season look very strong,” said Ms Walkine. 

“Americans have decided that, irrespective of what else is going on in their economy, travel is important to them, especially at Thanksgiving. We’re fortunate to be benefiting from that demand. They’re coming here in large numbers, and our hotels are reporting very strong occupancy.”

Ms Walkine added that Thanksgiving travel is expected to match or surpass last year’s numbers, and the airport has already seen a major spike in arrivals.

“Just last Saturday, we had a 6,600 passenger arrival day - the first since July - which is very encouraging. This Thanksgiving is looking to be at least as good as last year, if not a little bit better, and we understand from our hotel partners that the Christmas holiday period is also shaping up to be very robust,” said Ms Walkine.

She also highlighted efforts to improve airport efficiency ahead of the holiday peak, noting upgrades to security screening, increased staffing and passenger guidance initiatives to ensure smoother processing. 

“Over the summer, we had very few complaints. People were able to avoid excessive queues. And so we expect that during this holiday season, the same thing will remain, that people can move through fairly efficiently,” she added.

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, said Thanksgiving travel is setting the tone for a strong end to the year and he expects the 2025 fourth quarter to outperform the same period last year.

“Thanksgiving is very strong leading into the end of the year. We will continue to see a fourth quarter, in my view, better than the fourth quarter last year, and this will hopefully go straight into quarter one 2026,” said Mr Cooper. 

He added that new airlift from Canada and the US is expected to strengthen the end-of-year travel season.

“We're excited about the possibilities. This new airlift out of Canada, as well as the new airlift out of LaGuardia by Delta, is going to really help finish strong the fourth quarter. This is good for the Bahamian people. It's good for our stakeholders. It's good for jobs, opportunities and entrepreneurs who are going to be providing support to our guests,” said Mr Cooper.