Grand Cayman airport update

[FindingMenno]

Somewhat confused as when googled TIA airport code it is Tirana International airport in Albania!

Tampa = TPA / KTPA.

 

[mi000ke]

The latest...

January airport opening scheduled | Cayman Compass

 

[KathyV]

I'm sitting in the departure area following a week on the Cayman Aggressor V, I will review the trip with photos soon

I can't get over how much the airport has been improved. They still have quite a bit of work to do, but, the gains are very significant. Of course, arrival is still on the tarmac, down the stairs and into the airport. Immigration, baggage claim, and customs are all new and worked flawlessly and quickly. I passed out of customs and immediately boarded a cab to the Aggressor. Today my cab dropped me off at the new ticketing area, also spacious and modern, but no seating for very early arrivals. Entry into the new security area is directly from the ticketing area and was efficient and fast. The new departure lounge has 7 nice gates and is quite large, with extensive seating. Most of the vendors are not yet in place. There is food and drink available.

Anyone coming to Grand Cayman, who has been here before, will be impressed with the improvements. None of the new areas were in use when I went to Cayman Brac over Halloween of 2017.

I did not rent or return a car this trip and did not take a commuter plane to Little Cayman or Brac. There is still fairly extensive construction going on for the exterior of the airport with with fenced off areas and rerouting

@scubadada now that the holidays are over I hope that you will soon have a chance to post a report about your experiences on the new Cayman Aggressor! Did they make the crossing over to the Sister Islands during your trip?

 

[scubadada]

@scubadada now that the holidays are over I hope that you will soon have a chance to post a report about your experiences on the new Cayman Aggressor! Did they make the crossing over to the Sister Islands during your trip?

Funny thing, I wrote it just yesterday, will post it later today with a few photos

 

[KathyV]

Funny thing, I wrote it just yesterday, will post it later today with a few photos

Looking forward to it, Happy New Year!

 

[Testudo]

Arrived Saturday, December 29th at 12:05 PM. Took about 10 minutes to get through Immigration from the row 14 of an AA 737. The arrivals and departure areas are now connected (all indoors), so no needed to take the serpentine walk to the main rental car center. Progress.

Returned on Saturday, January 5th for a 4:19 PM flight. Bumper to bumper traffic from the Cricket field all the way to and around the terminal. Planned to check a bag and have lunch off-site, but took too long and had to eat at the Island Taste tent in the parking lot. The bag drop-off took about 10 minutes on the AA Priority lines, much better than I thought. The security line was full when I checked it out, but contained to the cordoned-off queue area. I figured there'd be even fewer in line for the later flights, after the usual 12:00-2:00 jam.

Had lunch at the food tent and left to get in the security line at 3:00 PM. The line was now snaking all the way down to the arrivals area. It took us exactly an hour to get through. We were just about the last to board our flight. I checked a bag, so knew they likely wouldn't leave without expediting us through security, if it came to that, but it was still a bit of a stressful end to a vacation.
Worst I've ever seen security (except when they went down to one X-Ray machine for a period), and we've visited the same high travel week for the last 10 years.
Regression.

 

[Doctorfish]

I agree. I've complained about departures on this board repeatedly. I was there last month on a Saturday. Arrivals was a breeze, departures was chaos as per Testudo's experience. I also had to drop off a friend for a departure on a Monday and the traffic was terrible through the commercial/industrial zone.
I love the Caymans but hate the airport.

They should have given the airport renewal project to Dart. He would have done it properly.

 

[mi000ke]

Arrived Saturday, December 29th at 12:05 PM. Took about 10 minutes to get through Immigration from the row 14 of an AA 737.

We arrived on Jan 5 about 15 minutes before you took off. From the time we exited the plane to arriving by cab at our digs on SMB was an hour total. So looks like the arrival experience has pretty much come under control. Which to be honest is the most important end of business. Always want to start the vacation on the right note.

Returned on Saturday, January 5th for a 4:19 PM flight. Bumper to bumper traffic from the Cricket field all the way to and around the terminal. Planned to check a bag and have lunch off-site, but took too long and had to eat at the Island Taste tent in the parking lot. The bag drop-off took about 10 minutes on the AA Priority lines, much better than I thought. The security line was full when I checked it out, but contained to the cordoned-off queue area. I figured there'd be even fewer in line for the later flights, after the usual 12:00-2:00 jam.

Had lunch at the food tent and left to get in the security line at 3:00 PM. The line was now snaking all the way down to the arrivals area. It took us exactly an hour to get through. We were just about the last to board our flight. I checked a bag, so knew they likely wouldn't leave without expediting us through security, if it came to that, but it was still a bit of a stressful end to a vacation.
Worst I've ever seen security (except when they went down to one X-Ray machine for a period), and we've visited the same high travel week for the last 10 years.
Regression.

Unfortunately you were part of the post-holiday return madness - which is getting madder, as the number of visitors to our lovely island has increased significantly this past year. Surprised you hit that much traffic around the airport. We got a cab at about 3:30 pm just before you were taking off, and hit very little traffic going over to SMB.

When we were down last in November, on the way home it took no time to get through security. The only bad part was that almost all the seats were full in the departure lounge, so we had to split up to sit. I'm hoping they sort out the departure situation by the time we go back in April.

 

[caydiver]

I had family come in the Friday after New Year. They were delayed on American out of Miami for over six hours and then were told the late flight was cancelled. They would have happily left the airport hung out in Miami and found a hotel for the night. They were lucky enough to get on the Cayman Airways flight that night. This past Friday when they left, they printed boarding passes online, had no bags to check and got to the airport here an hour before boarding. They experienced no issues. I really just think it depends on the situation at the time I have had as many if not more problems at JFK which used to be my home airport as I have here. When it’s good it’s good when it’s not it’s awful no matter where you are trying to get to or leave from in my experience

 

[flyboy08]

Airports “should” run smoother since TSA is boycotting