The Cayman Islands is easy to access with many airlines offering a daily or weekly service. The airport is modern and provides a good experience for visitor and residents.
Located in the capital of the Cayman Islands, George Town, the Owen Roberts International Airport is central to many hotels.
The national flag carrier of the Cayman Islands is Cayman Airways and the main gateway to Cayman is Miami.
On various airlines there are daily flights between Grand Cayman and Miami, and weekly or seasonal flights to Barbados, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Havana, Kingston and Montego Bay in Jamaica, La Ceiba, London, Los Angeles, Nassau, Tampa, Toronto, Panama and New York. There are also daily flights between Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. In October 2023, Cayman Airways began a twice-weekly non-stop service to Barbados. Other airlines that service Cayman are Air Canada, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, United Airlines and WestJet.
The Cayman Islands’ largest airport, the Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA), is located in George Town, Grand Cayman and serves up to 1.5 million passengers annually. In the last ten years, the airport has undergone CI$45.7 million dollars’ worth of improvements, which include the expansion of the terminal and significant upgrades to the runway. Originally designed to handle 500,000 passengers, the airport is now able to accommodate up to 2.7 million passengers per year. A new Airport Master Plan was announced in May 2023, and this includes extending the ORIA runway into the North Sound by 1,900 feet at a cost of $28 million, improving the air traffic control surveillance, and building a new general aviation facility. It is expected that following the extension of the runway, ‘Code E’ planes, which include the Boeing 777 and 787, and the A350 Airbus will be able to land fully loaded.
Cost of Flights & Flying Time
The average cost of a return ticket from Miami or New York is US$500 and from London it is US$1,300-US$1,800. Costs will vary according to high or low season.
The flying time from Miami to Grand Cayman is 1.5 hours. The flight from London is 10 hours (with 45 minutes on the tarmac in Nassau). Flying time from Toronto and New York is four hours.
