Curaçao International Airport has kicked off a new era with a new name and branding as it welcomes new service to the US, Brazil and Canada
On 18 August speeches were delivered, music played, and champagne glasses clinked as Curaçao Airport Partners (CAP) launched its new airport branding.
CAP, as CEO Jonny Andersen reminded guests at the festivities, has managed Curaçao International for 20 years. The island welcomed its first seaplane service 100 years ago, he added.
CAP is a consortium made up of CCR of Brazil, Dutch firm Janssen De Jong and Aport, the international arm of Zurich Airport.
“As CAP continues its journey into a new transformative era for this crucial facility for the island, this rebrand reflects CAP’s commitment to embracing the role of establishing CUR Curaçao International Airport as a global gateway, setting the stage for enhanced marketing strategies and international positioning, highlighting the island all throughout the modern-day international aviation markets,” said Andersen.
Curaçao is an island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, located about 65km north of the Venezuela coast. It is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and together with Aruba and Bonaire forms the ABC islands.
The airport’s new logo features the IATA code ‘CUR’ prominently, underlined with the full name ‘Curaçao International Airport’. “This modern and streamlined visual identity is now displayed on the façade of the airport, symbolising a shift towards a more vibrant and dynamic brand that stands out internationally – a significant milestone in CAP’s ongoing five-year plan for transformation,” said CAP.
“The colours of the new logo represent our island’s amazing and beautiful sunsets, which are a daily inspiring spectacle. This logo is more than just a corporate identity; it’s a tribute to Curaçao and its stunning beauty,” added CAP.
CUR recovered to pre-pandemic traffic levels last year, handling 1.46 million passengers, said Peggy Croes, Senior Vice-President Aviation Market Development at CAP. This number is expected to jump to 1.6 million in 2023.
As traffic has returned, service to Brazil, the USA and Canada has been added, a positive development as it reduces the reliance CUR once had on its Dutch services, explained Croes. “These had been 70% of our traffic pre-2019 but are now around 40%, which gives us a better balance within the different markets,” she said.
The airport has daily nonstop services to Miami and Amsterdam and a raft of destinations around the Caribbean, the USA, Canada and Latin America.
The island has benefited from the opening of the new Royal Curaçao Sandals Resort, as well as several other new properties, which is making it more attractive to the North American market.
New or increased service from WestJet, JetBlue, American and Delta Air Lines has arrived at CUR. In June, Brazil’s Azul announced a second weekly non-stop flight from Belo Horizonte starting in December 2023.
Now CUR must consolidate this success. “For 2024 our aim is to focus on retention,” said Croes, although no air service developer ever stands still and he team is exploring more service opportunities in underserved US markets and would like to add a European carrier outside of the Netherlands.
