It's all good and fine that air traffic routes to and from South America have picked up, but the real tourist money economies for the Caribbean are Europe and North America. Yet flights to Curacao from these high-spending economic regions are sparse, but why? Other Caribbean nations allow a large variety of flight options from different carriers to their shores, but Curacao is limited in ways to get there from key markets.
Curacao Airport Partners along with the Curacao government should be courting more airlines, not only from North America, but Europe as well. As it is today, only two airlines from the USA have any appreciable passengers arriving to the island, namely, code share partners American and Jet Blue. (It's worth noting that prior to this code share partnership, Jet Blue fares were typically lower to Curacao than they are today). United Airlines offers limited service mostly through Newark, New Jersey or connecting through Panama City, Panama and Air Canada offers restricted service out of Toronto. From Europe it's only KLM and TUI.
This lack of airline service leads to high fares because the airlines have no competition in their respective markets. As such, many tourist may opt for other Caribbean destinations with better fares offered by airlines that need to stay competitive.
As a local comparison, Aruba and Saint Maarten airports are serviced by nearly every major airline based in the USA and several out of Canada and Europe. Other Caribbean destinations like the Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands, and Cancun, Mexico are also serviced by a multitude of airlines from North America and Europe. Travelers to these destinations often benefit from lower airfares due to competition among the airlines.
People traveling to and from Curacao frequently pay some of the highest fares per air mile in the region. For example, one-way fares from Curacao to Miami (a three hour or less flight) on American Airlines, as of late, are over $500.00. It's an astonishingly high amount for a short flight. But without market competition, an airline company can charge pretty much whatever they want to.
Curacao has the hotel room and private vacation rental capacity to handle more tourists, as does the rental car and tourist service industry in general. Hato Airport is a modern and efficiently run facility, yet many of its gates sit idle due to a lack of flights to Curacao. More arrivals from more airlines would also mean more jobs for the local population and more revenue for the island.
