Owen Roberts International Airport
| Owen Roberts International Airport | |||||||||||
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| IATA: GCM – ICAO: MWCR | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Cayman Islands Government | ||||||||||
| Operator | Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) | ||||||||||
| Location | George Town, Grand Cayman | ||||||||||
| Hub for | Cayman Airways | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 8 ft / 2 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°WCoordinates: 19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°W | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  GCM Location in the Cayman Islands | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Sources: Cayman Islands AIP[1] | |||||||||||
Owen Roberts International Airport (IATA: GCM, ICAO: MWCR) is an airport located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is the main international airport for the Cayman Islands as well as the main base for Cayman Airways. The airport is named after Owen Roberts, a pioneer of commercial aviation in the country. Owen Roberts is also the last International airport in the Caribbean with an "open-air" passenger waving gallery. Owen Roberts International airport is one of the two entrance ports to the Cayman Islands. There is a bar at the departing terminal, and they sell rum cakes at the shops here.[2]
Construction of terminal and runway
In 1952, after Owen Roberts convinced the commissioners of the country to construct airports on all three Cayman Islands, a 5,000 ft (1,524 m) runway, along with a terminal was constructed on Grand Cayman at the cost of £100,000.
Renovations
In 2007, the Cayman Islands Government announced plans to expand and upgrade the existing airport. Plans include the expansion of the check-in area, the purchase of a new X-ray machine and baggage screening machine as well as the employment of additional passenger screening staff. Phase 1 of the project, the expansion of the airport's car parks and the airport's pick-up and drop-off locations have already been completed.
Additional renovations completed in 2012 include refurbishing the departure hall interior and livening up the passport control and customs hall with aquatic paintings and use of an aggressive digital advertising campaign in the baggage claim area.[3]
The initiation of Cayman Airways flights to Panama City, Panama is anticipated to allow Brazilian tourists to travel to the Cayman Islands via Copa Airlines flights to Panama.[4]
In 2014, Airport Authority unveiled a new plan to do major renovations to Owen Roberts International Airport as part of a master plan to renovate and redevelop all three Cayman Islands Airports.
The new plan would expand the current terminal building, passenger parking, public parking, staff parking, aprons, Taxi area, extend the current runway and in the middle to long term build a second terminal building called the Greenspace Terminal and a parallel taxiway.
This new expansion will allow airline to fly their newer and bigger aircraft to Owen Roberts International, such as British Airways which is retiring their Boeing 767-300 fleet with the Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 787-8 being slated as replacement aircraft in 2016. BA also operates Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 777-200 wide body aircraft.
The expansion will also allow other airlines with larger, long haul aircraft to fly to Cayman such Virgin Atlantic which currently operates Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 787-9 wide body jetliners.
The expansion work starts in 2015, a temporary extended departure hall has been added to mitigate to passenger traffic while tendering is finished and construction started
March 9, 2015, the Florida-based company RS&H, who are partnered with the Cayman Island Airport Authority, unveiled a new design for Owen Roberts International. This new design is based around the design criteria created by Canadian firm WS&P in 2014
Work on Owen Roberts estimated to cost around some $50 Million KYD
Construction work slated to start late Summer of 2015, and is estimated to be finished in 2 1/2–3 years
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aerolíneas Sosa | La Ceiba |
| Aero Caribbean | Havana |
| Air Canada | Toronto–Pearson |
| American Airlines | Dallas/Fort Worth (begins June 6, 2015),[5] Miami |
| British Airways | London–Heathrow, Nassau |
| Cayman Airways | Cayman Brac, Havana, Kingston–Norman Manley, La Ceiba, Miami, Montego Bay, New York–JFK, Tampa Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Panama City |
| Cayman Airways Express | Cayman Brac, Little Cayman |
| Delta Air Lines | Atlanta, New York-JFK |
| Island Air | Cayman Brac, Little Cayman |
| JetBlue Airways | New York–JFK Seasonal: Boston |
| United Airlines | Houston–Intercontinental, Newark, Washington–Dulles |
| US Airways operated by American Airlines | Charlotte Seasonal: Philadelphia |
| WestJet | Toronto–Pearson |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Cayman Airways | Miami |
| IBC Airways | Miami |
| Ameriflight LLC | Miami |
References
- ↑ Cayman Islands AIP
- ↑ http://www.caymanislands.co.uk/planatrip.aspx
- ↑ "cayCompass.com :: Airports authority unveils new advertising programme". Compasscayman.com. 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
- ↑ "cayCompass.com :: Panama link welcomed by tourism body". Compasscayman.com. 2012-03-27. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
- ↑ http://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-customers-gain-more-170000843.html
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Owen Roberts International Airport. |
- Cayman Islands Airport Authority
- Guide to Georgetown Owen Roberts Airport
- Current weather for MWCR at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for GCM at Aviation Safety Network
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