Hurricane Melissa Jamaica Flights And Resorts Recovery

Published on Nov 24, 2025, 12:56 pm CST

10 min read

Key points

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa damaged Jamaica tourism infrastructure after making landfall on October 28, 2025
All three Jamaican international airports are open again, but Montego Bay is running on reduced gate capacity while repairs continue
Winter flights and package holidays are gradually resuming from airlines and operators such as American, Sunwing, and TUI from late November
Major resort chains around Montego Bay, Negril, and Ocho Rios are reopening in phases toward a government target of December 15, 2025 for broad tourism restart
The United States keeps Jamaica under a Level 3 Reconsider Travel advisory, so visitors should weigh crime and health risks alongside storm recovery conditions

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Expect the heaviest remaining disruption around Montego Bay and western Jamaica where airport gates, roads, and some beachfront resorts are still under repair
Best Times To Travel: Trips from mid December onward are likelier to see a fuller choice of flights and hotels though early December visits may still work for flexible travelers
Onward Travel And Changes: Plan extra time for airport transfers and inland drives, avoid tight same day connections across the island, and keep backup routings if a resort change becomes necessary
Health And Safety Factors: Review hurricane damage conditions, local medical capacity, and crime patterns by area, not just resort marketing, before committing to independent stays
What Travelers Should Do Now: Confirm the reopening date and operating status of each booked hotel, tour, and transfer, monitor airline advisories, and keep dates and routing as flexible as budget allows

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Jamaica Hurricane Melissa travel decisions are shifting from emergency changes to cautious winter planning as the island rebuilds after the Category 5 storm made landfall on October 28, 2025. Beach and resort travelers looking at Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Kingston now face a patchwork map of reopened hotels, limited flights, and pockets of heavy damage. Most visitors will need to double check airport and resort status, consider flexible dates between late November and mid December, and leave extra time where roads, power, and local services are still being restored.

The core change for travelers is that Jamaica is no longer in a full shutdown phase after Hurricane Melissa, but is instead running a constrained system in which all three international airports and many larger resorts are operating again while gate capacity, smaller hotels, and local neighborhoods remain in repair mode.

Airport And Flight Recovery

The storm hit transport infrastructure hard, especially around Montego Bay, where Sangster International Airport (MBJ) suffered dramatic roof failure and flooding in some gate areas when Melissa crossed the island. Jamaica temporarily closed all of its international gateways, including Norman Manley International Airport (KIN) in Kingston and Ian Fleming International Airport (OCJ) in Ocho Rios, for safety checks and cleanup.

Limited commercial operations resumed first for relief and essential travel. Official airport and government updates show that Sangster reopened for restricted flights around November 1 with several gates still offline, while Kingston and Ocho Rios handled a mix of relief, repatriation, and early commercial services. The Jamaica Tourist Board now emphasizes that all international and domestic airports are operational again, although full pre storm schedules have not yet returned and some congestion and temporary closures inside terminals are still possible while repair crews work.

Major airlines have layered their schedules back in stages. American Airlines began resuming operations at Montego Bay and other Jamaican airports in the first days of November, starting with one round trip daily between Miami and key gateways and warning that it could take several more days to normalize timetables. Canadian leisure carriers activated flexible change policies through mid November, then used them to support rebookings into the restored winter program.

For winter sun travelers and package holiday buyers, the most visible shift is the restart of charter style and tour operator flights. Sunwing Vacations resumed operations into Jamaica on November 20, while TUI Group is restarting a limited program of holidays and flights from November 24, and additional services from the Netherlands are set to follow in early December. Local reporting and tourism officials describe these flights as critical to rebuilding room nights at major beach properties, particularly around Montego Bay.

For now, travelers should assume that schedules through Sangster will remain thinner than in a normal year and that last minute flight changes are more likely if work on damaged gate areas requires short closures or if aircraft and crews are still being repositioned through the region.

Resorts, Tours, And What Is Open

Hurricane Melissa devastated some parts of Jamaica and spared others, which means the resort picture varies sharply by corridor and brand. Government briefings and industry coverage agree that the northwest and southwest, including parts of Hanover Parish and western beach communities, absorbed the worst physical damage and flooding, while some areas such as Negril escaped with relatively limited structural impact.

Hotel reopening calendars compiled by tour operators, travel media, and property groups show a rolling restart through November and December. Several well known resorts around Negril and the Rose Hall area near Montego Bay reopened as early as November 10 to 16, followed by additional midscale and all inclusive properties on November 20, November 28, and November 30. Major chains such as RIU Hotels and Resorts are bringing properties back online in phases, with sources indicating that all seven RIU hotels in Jamaica aim to be open by the end of 2025 even as some individual facilities still host relief workers or operate with temporary fixes.

The Jamaica Tourist Board has published dedicated pages that list which hotels, tours, and attractions are open, which are still closed, and which have reopening dates scheduled, and it encourages visitors and travel advisors to cross check these lists against individual property announcements. In practice, this means some Montego Bay and Ocho Rios resorts are fully operational, others are partially open with reduced room inventory or a smaller pool of restaurants and amenities, and a minority remain closed into early 2026 for more substantial reconstruction.

Excursions and day tours are also in mixed status. Popular attractions near major resort areas, such as well known waterfalls, river trips, and zipline parks, are progressively reopening as safety checks finish and access roads clear, while more remote community based experiences in harder hit parishes may remain paused or operate on a very limited basis until roads, bridges, and utilities are stable.

Safety Advisories And How Level 3 Affects Trips

On the government side, the United States keeps Jamaica at Level 3 Reconsider Travel, a status that predates Melissa but was updated around October 28 and November 3 to reflect storm damage and temporary changes in embassy operations. The advisory cites a mix of crime, health, and natural disaster risks, and it notes that while resort zones often see lower violent crime than some urban neighborhoods, serious incidents including armed robbery and sexual assault do occur.

For travelers, Level 3 does not mean that trips are banned, but it does signal that the U.S. government considers the overall risk high enough that many visitors should reconsider or take extra precautions. After Melissa, those precautions now include verifying that local medical facilities are functioning in the region you plan to visit and recognizing that emergency services and infrastructure may still be under strain in pockets of western and southwestern Jamaica.

The United Kingdom and other governments have issued similar advisories that describe storm damage, note that some flights and holidays were paused or cancelled, and give specific guidance by area. That makes it important to read country specific advice for your nationality and to compare their area by area notes against the resort corridor you are considering, rather than assuming that a reopened hotel automatically means that surrounding areas are back to normal.

Timing A Jamaica Trip After Melissa

Jamaica's tourism ministry and recovery task force are targeting December 15, 2025 as the date by which most of the formal tourism sector should be ready for peak winter demand, including major resorts, primary attractions, and core airlift. That target aligns with the traditional start of the high season and has driven hotel reopening calendars and airline capacity plans.

For travelers, the period before that date and the first weeks after it involve tradeoffs. Early December trips may find lower prices and less crowding, but they run a higher risk that a preferred resort is not yet fully back online or that some facilities such as spas, secondary pools, or certain restaurants remain unavailable. Late December and January trips are more likely to see restored facilities and a wider flight choice, at the cost of higher prices and busier beaches.

Another factor is the uneven pace of recovery between large chains and smaller, locally owned properties. Reporting from across the island indicates that bigger brands with deep capital and insurance backing have been able to bring rooms and common areas back faster, sometimes while simultaneously hosting aid workers, whereas smaller guesthouses, villas, and tour operators may still be repairing roofs, replacing equipment, or dealing with delayed insurance payouts well into 2026.

If your priority is a smooth beach and pool holiday with minimal disruption, the most conservative strategy is to choose a resort that has already reopened and is part of a major chain, travel from mid December onward, and build at least a half day of slack at the start of the trip in case of flight changes. More flexible travelers who are comfortable with some visual storm damage and a thinner list of excursions may feel satisfied with earlier dates as long as they confirm which amenities are working and avoid the hardest hit parishes.

Booking And Routing Strategies

From a logistics perspective, the safest routing remains a single ticket itinerary into Jamaica with a connection through a large U.S. or Canadian hub where airlines have more options to reaccommodate if something goes wrong. With Sangster still running reduced gate capacity and the whole system catching up from weeks of disruption, short connections are risky and separate tickets with tight same day links are even more vulnerable to misconnects.

Travelers who can choose between Montego Bay and Kingston should look closely at resort location and ground transfer times, not just fare levels. Beach resorts concentrated along Jamaica's north and northwest coasts still map most cleanly to Montego Bay, but in some cases, Kingston can be a viable alternative if Montego Bay faces temporary capacity constraints and if the onward road network to your destination is confirmed to be in good condition.

Given the scale of Hurricane Melissa's damage and the ongoing Level 3 advisory, travel insurance with strong trip interruption and medical coverage is more than a nice to have. Policies that cover supplier default, extended power outages, or mandatory evacuations can help protect prepaid costs if a resort has to close again temporarily or if local conditions deteriorate. It is important to read policy wording carefully, since some plans treat hurricanes and advisory changes differently depending on when you purchased coverage relative to the storm's formation and landfall.

Finally, travelers considering Jamaica in this recovery window should combine operational checks with a sense of local context. Jamaica's tourism sector supports a large share of national employment and GDP, and many workers are eager for visitors to return, but some communities are still repairing homes, roads, and schools after a historic storm. Choosing reputable operators, respecting local guidance on where to go and when, and being ready to adapt plans if infrastructure issues emerge are all part of traveling responsibly in the post Melissa season.