Owen Roberts International Airport

Coordinates: 19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°W / 19.29250; -81.35917
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the airport in Liberia, see Roberts International Airport.

Owen Roberts International Airport
AMSL
8 ft / 2 m
Coordinates19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°W / 19.29250; -81.35917
Websitewww.caymanairports.com/
Map
GCM is located in Cayman Islands
GCM
GCM
Location in the Cayman Islands
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
08/26 2,398 7,867 Asphalt
Sources: CIATCA[1] GCM[2] Google Maps[3]

Owen Roberts International Airport (

RAF) Wing Commander Owen Roberts
, a pioneer of commercial aviation in the country, and is one of the two entrance ports to the Cayman Islands.

Owen Roberts International Airport was the only international airport remaining in the Caribbean to have an open-air observation "waving gallery" until January 2017 when it was closed due to reconstruction. The upgraded Owen Roberts International Airport passenger terminal no longer has an outdoor observation "waving gallery".

The runway length includes a 130 metres (430 ft) displaced threshold on Runway 26. The Grand Cayman non-directional beacon (Ident: ZIY) is located 1.1 nautical miles (2.0 km) short of the approach threshold of Runway 08. The Grand Cayman VOR/DME (Ident: GCM) is located 0.25 nautical miles (460 m) short of Runway 08.[4][5]

History

Wg Cdr. Owen Roberts was a Wing Commander in the

Lockheed Lodestar
twin-prop airliners purchased to keep up with the competition whose interest was now piqued by the soon-to-be completed airfield at George Town.

The inaugural flight of CIA, Ltd. from Kingston, Jamaica to Grand Cayman was set for 10 April 1953. Tragically, however, the Lodestar piloted by Roberts crashed on takeoff from Palisadoes Airport. 13 people, including the 40-year-old Roberts, were killed. The only survivor of the crash was Roberts' brother-in-law, Lt. Col. Edward Remington-Hobbs. Roberts was survived by a wife, Patricia, and their two daughters, in London. His grandson unfortunately passed before him, his name was Will Roberts. He died in a car crash in East End with his best friend Spencer Grainger. The Grand Cayman Island Airport was later named after the late Wg Cdr. Roberts in his honour.

On 21 August 2016, the weather station at the airport recorded a temperature of 34.9 °C (94.8 °F), which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in the Cayman Islands.[7]

Previous expansion projects

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.[8]

Current expansion projects

Owen Roberts International Airport 2022

In 2014, Airport Authority unveiled a new plan to perform major renovations at 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 Green space Terminal and a parallel taxiway. This new expansion will allow passenger airlines to fly their newer and larger aircraft to Owen Roberts International.

Boeing 787-9
, the opportunity to fly to Grand Cayman.

The expansion work began in 2015 with a temporarily extended departure hall being added to accommodate passenger traffic while the tendering process is completed and construction commenced. On 9 March 2015, the Florida-based company RS&H, which is partnered with the Cayman Island Airport Authority, unveiled a new design for Owen Roberts International. This new design is based mostly on the design criteria created by Canadian firm WS&P in 2014. Work on Owen Roberts estimated to cost around some $55 Million

KYD
. On 23 June 2015, it was confirmed by CIAA CEO Albert Anderson that construction work would start in early August 2015 and is estimated to be finished in generally 2 years. Late in August 2015, it was determined that work would have to be delayed to early September. A groundbreaking ceremony took place on 10 September 2015. In late October 2015, it was announced that phase 2 of the expansion would start in the early part of 2016.

Phase 1 of the expansion was completed on time and on budget by June 2016. Phase 2 began in July 2016. Part of the phase 2 reconstruction was the removal of the famous and only A-frame open-air observation "waving gallery" in the region as it was closed to the public in January 2017. The expansion of the Terminal Building was completed in late February 2019 and grand reopening was on 27 March by

Prince Charles on his royal visit to Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac on 27 & 28 March 2019. The expansion of the Apron area and strengthening and lengthening of the runway and taxiways project began in Summer 2019. A bid for contractors for the runway lengthening project commenced and companies had been chosen.[10] In late 2019 into early 2020 movement of wildlife, clearing of area and filling of the ponds west of the runway, west of threshold 08 had commenced, and construction of runway lengthening and apron expansion has begun. This phase expected was completed by June 2020.[11][12] Due to faster than expected passenger capacity of the newly redeveloped terminal building. Minister of Tourism announced that the phase of the Airport Master Plan that would see to the development of the second terminal building, also known as the Greenspace Terminal Building has been pushed forwards, to after the runway and apron lengthening and expansion phase. The Greenspace Terminal Building development will also include new Apron development, new runway extension considerations, and jet bridges. In addition to the Greenspace Terminal Building development, additional expansion to seating on the second floor of the redeveloped terminal will be done in the short term.[12]

As a result of the extension of the Grand Cayman Airport, airlines have extended their flight schedules. Recently, American Airlines has added a new nonstop service to Boston, Chicago, and New York-JFK. Delta Air Lines has also expanded its schedules adding new flights to Grand Cayman from New York-JFK and adding additional frequencies from other hubs. Southwest has added service to Baltimore, Fort Lauderdale, and Houston Hobby airport. In addition, United Airlines has drastically expanded its schedules in recent months. This includes new daily nonstop flights from Newark, New Jersey to Grand Cayman through June and twice daily service from Newark in the high season of April. American Airlines flies a mix of Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family aircraft to the island, Delta Airlines flies Boeing 757-200 aircraft, Boeing 737-800/900ER aircraft, and Airbus A320 Family aircraft, JetBlue flies Airbus A320 Family aircraft, Southwest flies a mix of Boeing 737 aircraft and United Airlines flies a mixture of Boeing 737-700/800/900ER aircraft. Cayman Airways, as a result of airport expansion, is planning new routes from the Cayman Islands and is exploring destinations in Canada and Los Angeles, California. The airport expansion brings the gate total to nine gates. Cayman Airways usually uses gates 1–3, American Airlines usually uses Gates 6–9, Jetblue usually uses gate 4 or 5, United Uses Gates 1–4, Delta uses gates 1–5, and Southwest uses Gate 6. All gates deplane via airstairs or ramps and gate assignments do change on occasion. British Airways' Twice weekly service on the Boeing 777 uses a specially configured Gate 1.

As of 30 November 2020, Owen Roberts International Airport new development project has seen the completion of the 797 ft Runway extension from 08 to near Crewe Road, taking the 7,070 ft runway to the full runway length now 7,867 ft, and the fully paved strip now 8261 ft. Also a new taxiway loop at the end of the runway extension near 08 that saw the movement of taxiways Alpha and Bravo moved to the loop, Charlie and Delta taxiways moved to where the former Alpha and Bravo taxiways were located leading to the general aviation terminal, and Echo and Foxtrot added to where the former Charlie and Delta were leading to the commercial terminal. Due to the build of the runway extension and taxiway loop closer to Crewe Road. A jet blast deflector was erected around the taxiway loop and at the end of the new runway extension dividing the runway from the road. Along with the new taxiway loop and shift in taxiway locations a new parallel taxiway was built and completed creating taxiway Gulf. Also completed in 2020 was the apron extension to the east on the commercial terminal area expanding the aircraft parking stands from 8 to 14.[13][14][15] These extensions were opened for operation on 24 February 2021.[16]

Cayman Airways

Convair CV-580 twin Prop aircraft.[22]

The initiation of Cayman Airways flights to Panama City, Panama was anticipated to allow Brazilian tourists to travel to the Cayman Islands via Copa Airlines flights to Panama with connecting passengers then continuing on Cayman Airways flights to the airport.[23]

Historical airline service

Grand Cayman was being served with scheduled passenger flights by the early 1950s when

Douglas DC-6B propliner flights on a routing of San Jose, Costa Rica - Grand Cayman - Miami with round trip service twice weekly.[citation needed
]

The jet age arrived in Grand Cayman during the late 1960s when

Cancún, Mexico twice a week.[36]

The first U.S.-based air carrier to serve Grand Cayman was

Fort Lauderdale and Grand Cayman flown with the DC-9 in addition to its daily nonstop service to and from Miami.[38]
Southern then merged with another U.S. airline to form
Convair 440 prop aircraft with up to six flights a week during the early 1980s.[41][42]

By 1989,

USAir (which was subsequently renamed US Airways and has now been merged into American Airlines) was operating nonstop flights to Charlotte, North Carolina three days a week as well as nonstop service to Tampa flown four days a week with both routes being operated with Boeing 727-200 jets.[44]

By the mid-1990s,

London Heathrow Airport via a stop in Nassau.[47]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Air Canada Rouge Toronto–Pearson
American Airlines Charlotte, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Philadelphia
British Airways London–Heathrow, Nassau
Cayman Airways Barbados, Cayman Brac, Havana, Kingston–Norman Manley, La Ceiba, Los Angeles, Miami, New York–JFK, Panama City–Tocumen, Tampa
Seasonal: Denver, Montego Bay
Cayman Airways Express
Cayman Brac, Little Cayman
Minneapolis/St. Paul[48]
JetBlue New York–JFK
Seasonal: Boston
Southwest Airlines Fort Lauderdale (ends June 3, 2024),[49] Orlando (begins June 4, 2024)[49]
Seasonal: Baltimore
Sun Country Airlines Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul
United Airlines Houston–Intercontinental, Newark
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Washington–Dulles
WestJet Toronto–Pearson

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
IBC Airways Miami
Cayman Airways Miami

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at GCM airport. See Wikidata query.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Our Airports". Cayman Islands Air Traffic Controllers Association. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  2. ^ Airport information for Owen Roberts International Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
  3. ^ "Grand Cayman Airport". Google Maps. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Grand Cayman NDB (ZIY) @ OurAirports". ourairports.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Grand Cayman VOR-DME (GCM) @ OurAirports". ourairports.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Caribbean International Airlines timetable". Timetableimages.com. May 1952. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  7. ^ Masters, Jeff; Henson, Bob (18 January 2017). "Confirmed: 2016 the Warmest Year in History of Global Recordkeeping". Wunderground. Archived from the original on 7 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  8. ^ "cayCompass.com :: Airports authority unveils new advertising programme". Compasscayman.com. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Book Flights, Holidays & Check In Online - British Airways". Ba.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  10. ^ Silva, Ken (4 March 2019). "Airport seeks contractor to extend runway". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Airport hickatees, tarpon, mosquito fish relocated". Cayman Compass. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  12. ^ a b Young, Kayla (2 February 2020). "Kirkconnell: New airport terminal on the horizon". Cayman Compass. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Airport Airfield Upgrades Project Continues to Make Improvements in Airfield Safety".
  14. ^ "Owen Roberts International Airport Runway 08 Starter-Extension" (PDF). Cayman Islands Airports Authority. 25 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Owen Roberts International Airport New Aerodrome Data" (PDF). Cayman Islands Airports Authority. 23 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Owen Roberts International Airport New Aerodrome Data" (PDF). Cayman Island Airports Authority. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  17. ^ "LACSA system timetable, Cayman Airways (KX) Grand Cayman-Kingston flight schedules". Timetableimages.com. 1 December 1970. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  18. ^ "Cayman Airways system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 July 1972. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Cayman Airways system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 15 December 1979. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Cayman Airways Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  21. ^ "2017 Summer Schedules". Caymanairways.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  22. ^ "KX2909 (CAY2909) Cayman Airways Flight Tracking and History 10-Feb-2023 (KMIA-GCM / MWCR)".
  23. ^ "cayCompass.com :: Panama link welcomed by tourism body". Compasscayman.com. 27 March 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  24. ^ "BWIA system timetable & 1 July 1953 BOAC system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 July 1953. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  25. ^ "LACSA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 October 1955. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  26. ^ "BWIA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 August 1957. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  27. ^ "BWIA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 November 1958. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  28. ^ "BWIA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 February 1963. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  29. ^ "BWIA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 28 April 1968. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  30. ^ "LACSA system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 December 1970. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  31. ^ a b "Official Airline Guide (OAG), Miami schedules". Departedflights.com. 15 November 1979. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  32. ^ "Air Jamaica system timetable". Timetableimages.com. 1 November 1980. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  33. ^ "Official Airline Guide (OAG), Miami schedules". Departedflights.com. 2 February 1985. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  34. ^ Flight Itineraries section, Feb. 15, 1985 Official Airline Guide (OAG), LIM-GCM-MIA flight routings for Compania de Aviacion Faucett (CF)
  35. ^ October 1993 OAG Desktop Flight Guide, Worldwide Edition
  36. ^ 15 September 1994 OAG Desktop Flight Guide, Grand Cayman schedules
  37. ^ 1 February 1976 Official Airline Guide (OAG), Grand Cayman schedules
  38. ^ "Southern Airways system timetable". Departedflights.com. 1 July 1978. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  39. ^ "Official Airline Guide (OAG), Miami schedules". Departedflights.com. 1 April 1981. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  40. ^ "Northwest Airlines system timetable". Departedflights.com. 7 September 1987. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  41. ^ "Official Airline Guide (OAG), Tampa flight schedules". Departedflights.com. 1 April 1981. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  42. ^ "Red Carpet Airlines & AeroSun International system timetables". Timetableimages.com. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  43. ^ a b "Official Airline Guide (OAG), Miami schedules". Departedflights.com. 15 December 1989. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  44. ^ 15 September 1994 OAG Desk Top Flight Guide, Grand Cayman schedules
  45. ^ 2 April 1995 OAG North American Edition Desktop Guide, Grand Cayman flight schedules
  46. ^ 27 Oct. 1996 OAG Pocket Flight Guide, European edition, London, UK flight schedule
  47. ^ "Owen Roberts/Grand Cayman Airport (George Town, Grand Cayman) MWCR / GCM Flight Tracker ✈ FlightAware". FlightAware. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  48. ^ Losanno, Anthony (20 October 2023). "Delta Air Lines Adds New Flights to the Caribbean". The Bulkhead Seat.
  49. ^ a b "Southwest Airlines Extends Flight Schedule With New International Options And Most-Ever Departures". Southwest Airlines Newsroom. 26 October 2023.

External links

Media related to Owen Roberts International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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