Serving the idyllic southern Caribbean island of Aruba, Queen Beatrix International Airport (AUA) has grown impressively in recent years and is keeping pace with the increasing popularity of this perfect holiday destination.
Four-time winner of the Routes Americas Marketing Awards, AUA's passenger numbers were just short of three million in 2015, but have grown by 20% in 2016 with European traffic and 4% with Canadian travellers. The winter 2016-17 season has added 16,800 seats out of North America and 5,665 out of Canada. An impressive 29 airlines run scheduled services to Aruba. These include Air Canada, American, Avianca, Delta, KLM, jetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, Thompson, TUI and WestJet, with Wingo twice weekly from Bogota – the most recent addition.
Profitable routes currently not served or under-served include Buenos Aires, Cali, Dallas, Detroit, Hartford, Kingston, Los Angeles, Medellín, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Port of Spain, Santiago and St Maarten.
With a history stretching back to 1933, AUA was comprehensively reconstructed in 2000 and is now a modern, sustainable, passenger-friendly airport capable of servicing Boeing 747s. Since 2004, it has enjoyed a strategic cooperation agreement with Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. There are eight boarding bridges; two new parking stands, which have recently been added for category C aircraft; and a recently renovated tower. E-gates, and improvements to restrooms and the VIP arrivals lounge have enhanced the passenger experience. In 2018, the airport will begin installation of a complete new baggage system to simplify the US pre-clearance process.
Tourism has grown rapidly in the past ten years. White sandy beaches, sunny skies, temperatures of 27°C, cool breezes and minimal rainfall make Aruba an ideal holiday destination throughout the year. The island lies far to the south of the tropical storm belt and rarely experiences hurricanes. These natural assets, a variety of leisure activities, and picturesque, pastel-coloured Dutch colonial architecture brought 1.75 million visitors through the airport in 2015.
