Jamaica Airports Start to Resume Operations Post-Hurricane Melissa

Jamaica is still digging out from Hurricane Melissa on Thursday morning. The storm, the most powerful of the 2025 hurricane season and the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane ever, tore through the island on Tuesday night, dropping more than a foot of rain in some areas, leaving residents without power, and shutting the country’s airports.

Here’s where things stand with Jamaica’s airports as of Thursday morning:

Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Montego Bay, the country’s biggest and busiest airport, shut its doors on Sunday ahead of Melissa’s arrival and has remained closed since then. Officials said on Wednesday that Sangster, which reopened for emergency flights on Wednesday, would reopen for commercial flights on Thursday, but most flights from the airport (86%) are cancelled on Thursday, according to FlightAware.

Photos from inside of Sangster showed major damage to some of the gate areas, including a caved-in roof at the concourse that hosts Gates 1 through 5. Jamaica’s Transport Minister, the Honourable Daryl Vaz, stressed that the photo showed just “one section of a very large airport.”

The airport’s other concourse fared better, surviving the storm with minimal damage, and should be able to host flights either on Thursday or not far after. Both runways at Sangster are “fine,” Vaz added.

Ian Fleming International Airport (OCJ), in Saint Mary Parish, reopened for commercial flights at 7 a.m. on Thursday. Norman Manley International Airport (KIN) is also reopening on Thursday at 8 a.m. for commercial flights (it had opened for relief flights on Wednesday afternoon).

Norman Manley, which operates a scheduled volume about half that of Sangster, is also seeing heavy cancellations—about half of the airport’s 30 departures scheduled for Thursday have been cancelled, according to FlightAware.

Turks and Caicos Update

The other Caribbean airport seeing heavy cancellations on Thursday is Providenciales International (PLS) in Turks and Caicos. That airport reopened on Thursday morning after closing on Wednesday. All six airports under the banner of the Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority are open and operating on Thursday. Still, there are cancellations (more than 40% of departures), and travelers are being told to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

Airline Waivers

Even with the resumption of flights, airlines are still offering flexibility for travelers scheduled to fly through Jamaican and Caribbean airports over the next few days.

American Airlines has a waiver out for travel through Nov. 2 for L.F. Wade International Airport (BDA) in Bermuda. That waiver allows travelers to switch to new flights through Nov. 5.

JetBlue has a waiver out for flights through both Kingston (KIN) and Montego Bay (MBJ). That waiver runs through Nov. 8 and allows flyers to rebook their flights for travel through Nov. 16 without penalty.

JetBlue has a separate waiver out for travel through Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS) that runs through the end of Oct. 30. Flyers can rebook their flights for travel through Nov. 5. It also has a waiver out for L.F. Wade (BDA) that runs through Oct. 30 and allows for travelers to change to new flights through Nov. 7.

Southwest has a waiver out for Montego Bay (MBJ) through Nov. 2. Travelers can rebook or travel standby within 14 days of the original ticket without penalty. It has the same waiver out for Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (PLS) for travel through Nov. 1.

United Airlines has a waiver out for flights through Grand Cayman (GCM), Montego Bay (MBJ), Nassau (NAS), and Providenciales (PLS) for travel through Oct. 31. Travelers can change their flight to a new one through Nov. 7 without penalty.

United has a separate waiver out for Bermuda GB (BDA) for travel starting on Oct. 30 through Nov. 2. United is allowing travelers to change to a new flight through Nov. 9. 

United also has a last waiver out for travel through Montego Bay (MBJ), which includes all flights through that airport through Nov. 8. Travelers can rebook on flights through Nov. 21 without penalty.