Norman Manley International Airport - History

History

Jamaica has always had a vibrant civil aviation industry with the first flight reported in the island on December 21, 1911. This is eight years after the world recorded its first powered flight by the Wright Brothers. Nineteeen years later, on December 3, 1930, the first commercial flight, Pan American consolidated Commodore, a twin - engined flying boat, landed in the Kingston Harbour.

The year 1934 was also another historic period for the nation's aviation industry when Dr. Albert Forsythe and Charles C. Anderson (the godfathers of African American aviation) arrived in Jamaica from Cuba. This was the first time a land plane was arriving in the island by air.

The significant growth in the aviation sector led to the establishment of the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) in 1947. One year later, in 1948, the Kingston Air Traffic Control Centre (KATCC) was established. In the same year the Palisadoes Airport (now Norman Manley International) and the Montego Bay Airport now Sangster International Airport were established.

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