Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport

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Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport
IATA: SAB - ICAO: TNCS
Summary
Airport type		closed to commercial aviation
Operator		Winair
Serves		Saba
Elevation AMSL		60 ft (18 m)
Coordinates		17°38′43″N, 63°13′14″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
12/30	1748	533	Paved

The runway at Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport.

The island of Saba, showing Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport.

Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (IATA code SAB) is the only airport on the Caribbean island of Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles. It is well known among experienced fliers for the way in which airplanes must approach or take off from the airport.

1 Information
2 Facilities
3 Airlines
4 External links

[edit] Information

Yrausquin Airport covers a relatively large portion of the small island of Saba. Some aviation experts are of the general opinion that the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world, despite the fact that no major tragedies have happened at the facility. The airport's sole runway is marked with an X at each end, to indicate to commercial pilots that the airport is closed for commercial aviation.

The danger arises from the airport's physical position. It is flanked on one side by high hills, and on the other side and at both ends of the runway by cliffs dropping into the sea. This creates the possibility that an airplane might overshoot the runway during landing or takeoff and end up in the sea or on the cliffs.

Despite the fact that the airport is marked as a non-commercial facility, airlines are able to land there by obtaining waivers from the Netherlands Antilles' Civil Aviation Authority.

Yrausquin Airport can be seen from some places in St. Maarten.

[edit] Facilities

Large jet aircraft are unable to land at the airport, because the runway is too short. However, smaller airplanes are common sights there, and there is an aviation gasoline station near the runway.

[edit] Airlines

The only airline currently serving Yrausquin airport is locally owned Winair, which operate daily flights to St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and St. Kitts aboard a DHC-6 Twin Otter. The flight to St. Maarten takes about twelve minutes.