The car park at Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) is in urgent need of proper management and adequate resources to operate at an acceptable standard. For over a year now, clients have been seeking alternative sites to await arriving passengers or even to see off those departing. Some of the problems are as specified below;

International airports are meant to be highly security-conscious and controlled environments so they can operate at the highest levels of safety. The poor operation of the designated parking area for visitors forces people to park on the soft shoulders of the main thoroughfare. These include that area just short of the entrance to the Caribbean Maritime University (coming from Harbour View), along the road adjacent to the airstrip leading to Port Royal, along the dual carriageway to the roundabout at the airport itself, and on available space in the confines of the airport, outside or alongside the main parking facility. All these locations are areas from which possible threats to the airport operations can occur. They are so numerous that it is almost impossible for the police to monitor them constantly.

The implementation of properly resourced, enforced and operating parking areas, with designated stays and reasonable costs, will go a far way in alleviating this problem and possible threat scenarios.