Charles Kirkconnell International Airport

Sir Charles Kirkconnell International Airport
IATA: CYB ICAO: MWCB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Location	Cayman Brac
Elevation AMSL	1.3 m / 4 ft
Coordinates	19°41′13″N 79°52′58″W / 19.68694°N 79.88278°W / 19.68694; -79.88278Coordinates: 19°41′13″N 79°52′58″W / 19.68694°N 79.88278°W / 19.68694; -79.88278
Map
CYB Location in the Cayman Islands
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 1,832 6,010 Asphalt
Sources: Cayman Islands AIP[1]

Sir Captain Charles Kirkconnell International Airport (IATA: CYB, ICAO: MWCB) is an airport located on Cayman Brac, Cayman Islands. It is one of the hubs for Cayman Airways with flights to Owen Roberts International Airport on Grand Cayman, and Edward Bodden Airfield on Little Cayman. It is the only airport on Cayman Brac. The airport was renamed Charles Kirkconnell International Airport, in memory of Captain Charles Leonard Kirkconnell, a prominent local businessman with strong ties to the Sister Islands. Its previous name was Gerrard-Smith International Airport.^[2]

Airlines and destinations

Cayman Airways operates Boeing 737-300 jetliner service into the airport with limited flights operated on a less than daily basis nonstop to Grand Cayman, Havana and Miami while Cayman Airways Express flies de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter STOL capable turboprops and Saab 340B regional turboprops to Grand Cayman with Twin Otter service also being operated to the neighboring island of Little Cayman.^[3]

Historical airline service

In 1965, Cayman Brac Airways (CBA), a subsidiary of LACSA Airlines, was operating twice weekly round trip service flown with a Beech Model 18 twin prop aircraft on a routing of Grand Cayman - Little Cayman (flag stop only) - Cayman Brac - Montego Bay.^[4] According to the airline's May 1, 1965 timetable, connecting service to Miami via Grand Cayman was offered by LACSA, an airline based in Costa Rica, while additional CBA connecting service to Miami as well as to New York City was offered by Pan Am via Montego Bay.

In 1968, the government of the Cayman Islands purchased a controlling interest in Cayman Brac Airways from LACSA and then formed Cayman Airways which operated several different aircraft types over the years between Cayman Brac, Grand Cayman and Little Cayman including the Britten-Norman Trislander commuter three engine prop aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 twin turboprop and the Short 330 commuter twin turboprop.^[5] The first aircraft type to be operated by Cayman Airways into Cayman Brac was the Douglas DC-3 which in 1972 was being used on flights to both Grand Cayman and Little Cayman from the airport.^[6] By 1985, Cayman Airways was serving Cayman Brac with Boeing 727-200 jetliners with nonstop flights to Miami three days a week as well as operating 727 and propeller aircraft service to Grand Cayman.^[7][8] Other jetliner types previously operated by Cayman Airways over the years into Cayman Brac included the Boeing 737-200 and Boeing 737-400.^[9] During the early 1980s, U.S. based commuter air carriers Red Carpet Airlines and successor AeroSun International operated service on a once a week or twice a week basis between the airport and Tampa with Convair 440 prop aircraft.^[10][11]

References

External links

Media related to Charles Kirkconnell International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Cayman Islands Airport Authority