Princess Juliana International Airport
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| Princess Juliana International Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| IATA: SXM - ICAO: TNCM | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | public | ||
| Operator | Princess Juliana Int'l Airport Holding Company N.V. | ||
| Serves | Saint Maarten | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 13 ft (4 m) | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| ft | m | ||
| 09/27 | 7,708 | 2 349 | Asphalt |
Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) serves the island of Sint Maarten (also known as St Martin) in the Netherlands Antilles. The airport is famous for its short landing strip —only 2,349 metres/7,708 ft, 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. The airport is named after Juliana of the Netherlands.
The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean, after Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 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.
A new, more modern terminal opened on November 10th, 2006. The new terminal building is part of the phase II master plan which also includes expansion of the apron, car parking, rerouting of the roadnetwork, new ATC tower and radar facility and other related facilities represents a investment of approximately 100 million. To ensure complaince with national and international regulation a runway end safety area is being created at both sides of the runway of 150 meters including a 60 meter overrun. [1]
[edit] Airlines and destinations
- Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson [seasonal])
- Air Caraïbes (Saint Barthélemy)
- Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Air Transat (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
- American Airlines (Miami, New York-JFK, San Juan)
- American Eagle (San Juan, Santo Domingo)
- Anguilla Air Services (Anguilla)
- Caribbean Airlines, (Barbados, Kingston, Port Of Spain)
- Caribbean Star Airlines (Antigua, Dominica, Georgetown, St Kitts)
- Continental Airlines (Newark)
- Corsairfly (Paris-Orly)
- Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)
- Dutch Antilles Express (also known as DAE) (Bonaire, Curaçao)
- Insel Air (Curaçao, Bonaire)
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
- Leeward Islands Air Transport (Antigua, Barbados, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, San Juan, Tortola)
- Saint Barth Commuter (Saint Barthélemy)
- Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale [begins April 20, 2007])
- Sun Country Airlines (Minneapolis/St Paul [seasonal])
- Trans Anguilla Airlines (Anguilla)
- United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles)
- US Airways (Charlotte, Philadelphia)
- WestJet (Ottawa [seasonal])
- Windward Islands Airways (aka WinAir) (Anguilla, Antigua, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, Santo Domingo, Saba, St. Barts, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Tortola)
- Zoom Airlines (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa) [seasonal]
[edit] Cargo
- Amerijet
- Ameriflight
- CaribEx
- DHL Worldwide
- FedEx
- Roblex
- SkyWay
