CARICOM eAPIS Portal Closes September 30, Replaced by MDEX for All Flight API Submissions
Why It MattersThe switchover shows how regional API compliance systems concentrate operational risk in a single migration window, since a missed registration can block a flight rather than merely delay paperwork.
What happened
The eAPIS portal that has handled mandatory advance passenger information (API) submissions for flights to or from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states will close permanently on September 30. From October 1, all API submissions must be filed through the new CARICOM MDEX (Manifest Digital Exchange) portal, accessible at carimdex, with no overlap period during which the old system remains available.
The underlying requirement to submit API data before each departure or arrival is unchanged; only the transmission platform changes. CARICOM comprises 15 member states and territories, including Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and any operator serving these territories is subject to the API requirement.
The transition requires operators to create an account on MDEX before the deadline, and CARICOM has published a registration guide to assist with the process. Operators using automated data feeds connected to the old caricomeapis.org portal must reconfigure their credentials and connections to point to the new platform, and those feeds are not guaranteed to keep functioning after the switchover without that update.
Industry impact & what to watch
Hard-cutover migrations of mandatory compliance systems put the burden of continuity on each operator rather than on the regulator, since there is no parallel-running window to absorb a missed or delayed registration. For API filing specifically, the system is binary: a flight either has a valid filing on record or it does not, and a platform swap without a grace period turns a paperwork lag into a potential departure or arrival block.
Across a 15-member bloc, the exposure is uneven — operators with automated feeds tied to the old caricomeapis.org integration carry more technical risk than those filing manually, because reconfiguring credentials and endpoints is a discrete task that can be overlooked amid routine schedule planning.
The next fixed point is October 1 itself, when the old portal goes dark and MDEX becomes the sole channel; whether operators have completed registration and reconnected their automated feeds by then will determine whether the switch is a non-event or a source of blocked flights into CARICOM airports.
