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'Princess Juliana International Airport' serves Sint Maarten, the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean, after Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2005, the airport handled 1,663,226 passengers.^[1] The airport serves as a hub for Windward Islands Airways and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthélemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who was crown princess when the airport opened. There is also an airport on the French side of the island near Marigot, called Grand Case Airport.

Contents

History

Modernisation

Landing strip

Airlines and destinations

Cargo

References

External links

History

The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985.

Modernisation

Because of increased passenger traffic and the expected growth of passenger traffic in the near future, Princess Juliana International Airport is being heavily modernised following a three-phased masterplan, commissioned in 1997.^[2]
Phase I was a short-term programme in order to upgrade existing facilities and improve the level of service at various points. This included widening, strengthening and renovating the runway, increasing the bearing capacity of the taxiways, construction of a new apron and an upgrade of the (old) terminal. Phase I was completed in 2001.^[3]
Phase II included the construction of a radar facility and a new air traffic control tower, the construction of a new and more modern, 27,000 m², terminal, capable of handling 2,5 million passenger per year, and the construction of a Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of 150 metres, including a 60 meter overrun, on both ends of its runway, to comply with ICAO rules. The new air traffic control tower and the radar station commenced operations on March 29, 2004, while the new terminal opened on November 10, 2006.^[4]
If traffic develops as forecast, Phase III of the masterplan will be executed, consisting of an extension of the new terminal building and the construction of a full parallel taxiway system.^[5]

Landing strip

The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres/7,152 ft,^[6] which is barely enough for heavy jets. Because of this, the planes approach the island flying extremely low, right over Maho Beach. Countless photos of large jets flying at 10--20 m/30-60 ft over relaxing tourists at the beach have been dismissed as photoshopped many times, but are nevertheless real. For this reason as well it has become a favourite for planespotters. Landings on runway 27 are prohibited for the large jet types because of the huge cliff behind it^[7].

Airlines and destinations

★ Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]

★ Air Caraïbes (Saint Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, Haiti)

★ Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)

★ Air Transat (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax, Calgary)

★ American Airlines (Miami, New York-JFK, San Juan)

★
★ American Eagle (San Juan, Santo Domingo)

★ Anguilla Air Services (Anguilla)

★ Caribair (Santo Domingo, Punta Cana)

★ Caribbean Airlines, (Barbados, Kingston, Port Of Spain)

★ Caribbean Star Airlines (Antigua, Dominica, Georgetown, St Kitts, Tortola)

★ Continental Airlines (Newark)

★ Corsairfly (Paris-Orly)

★ Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)

★ Dutch Antilles Express (also known as DAE) (Bonaire, Curaçao)

★ Insel Air (Curaçao, Bonaire, Haiti, Santo Domingo)

★ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)

★ Leeward Islands Air Transport (Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, San Juan, Tortola)

★ North American Airlines (Boston)

★ Saint Barth Commuter (Saint Barthélemy)

★ Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale)

★ Take Air (Dominica)

★ Sun Country Airlines (Minneapolis/St Paul) [seasonal]

★ Trans Anguilla Airlines (Anguilla)

★ United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles)

★ US Airways (Charlotte, Philadelphia)

★ Windward Islands Airways (Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, Santo Domingo, Saba, St. Barts, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Tortola)

Cargo

★ Amerijet

★ Ameriflight

★ CaribEx

★ DHL

★ FedEx

★ Roblex

★ SkyWay

References

1. Traffic statistics
2. PJIAE Masterplan
3. Phase I
4. Phase II
5. Phase III
6. PJIAE Company Profile (2007)
7. http://www.fsstation.com/tutorials/dangerous-airports-approaches.html

External links

★ Official website