Princess Juliana International Airport

Princess Juliana International Airport
AMSL		14 ft / 4 m
Coordinates	18°02′27″N 063°06′34″W / 18.04083°N 63.10944°W / 18.04083; -63.10944
Website	sxmairport.com
Map
SXM Location in Sint Maarten
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 10/28 2,300 7,546 Asphalt concrete
Source: airnav.com[1]

Princess Juliana International Airport (

History

The airport began as a US military airstrip in 1942 during World War II. The following year, first commercial flight landed on 3 December 1943. The future

Because of increased passenger traffic and the expected growth of passenger traffic in the near future, Princess Juliana International Airport is being heavily modernized following a three-phased masterplan, commissioned in 1997.^[3]

Phase I was a short-term programme in order to upgrade existing facilities and improve the level of service at various points. This included widening, strengthening and renovating the runway, increasing the bearing capacity of the taxiways, construction of a new apron and an upgrade of the (old) terminal. Phase I was completed in 2001.^[4]

Phase II included the construction of a radar facility and a new

In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows for joint Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called "risk flights", requiring arriving passengers to have valid travel papers for both sides of the island. After some delay, the treaty was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2007. Implementation has been delayed for several years by the government of Sint Maarten.

In July 2016, KLM announced that, starting in October, it would serve the airport with direct flights from Amsterdam instead of the triangle route via Curaçao. The previous triangle route used a Boeing 747. The new direct route would use an Airbus A330.^[7] This change ended the airport's last regularly scheduled Boeing 747 service. The 747 made its last appearance at the airport on 28 October 2016. Maho Beach was almost completely covered with tourists and plane-spotters who came to witness the last landing and departure of the aircraft. In September 2017, it did make a brief return in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, operating some relief flights. At the same time KLM announced the return of the triangle route via Curaçao, this time however operated by an Airbus A330.^[8] In September 2018, KLM officials confirmed that they hope to resume direct flights between Amsterdam and St. Maarten by November 2019.^{[9][needs update]}

On 6 September 2017, the airport suffered significant damage when Hurricane Irma struck the island as a Category 5 hurricane. Video from a Dutch military helicopter showed the roof had been blown off the terminal, the jetways were damaged, and there was a significant amount of sand (blown through the fences from Simpson Bay Beach) and flooding on the runway.^[10] The airport reopened on 10 October 2017 using temporary facilities while repair work commenced.^[11] Pavilions were in use during reconstruction of the main terminal. In December 2018, temporary arrival and departure facilities opened within the first level of the terminal building.^[12] The entire upper floor of the terminal and the four jet-bridges were out of commission until November 2023. The reconstructed check-in area opened in January 2024. As of March 2024, arrivals are being handled by a temporary arrival facility that was constructed next to the permanent terminal building.

Facilities

Runway

The airport has a single runway numbered 10/28, measuring 7,546 ft x 148 ft (2,300 m x 45 m). It was renumbered from 09/27 in late 2008.^[1]

Pilots guided by

Arriving aircraft approach the island on the last section of the final approach for Runway 10, following a 3° glide slope flying low over the famous Maho Beach. The proximity of Maho Beach to the runway has made the airport one of the world's favorite places among planespotters despite the dangers.^[15] In 2017 a New Zealand woman died from injuries sustained by jet blast from a departing aircraft.^[16] Tourists have been often criticised for dangerous behavior on the beach.^[17]

Apron

The main apron measures 72,500 square metres (780,000 sq ft) with another 5,000 square metres (54,000 sq ft) on Eastern apron. For freight handling a dedicated apron of 7,000 square metres (75,000 sq ft) is available.^[18]

Terminal

Designed to handle some 2.5 million passengers annually, the new four-story terminal building offered (at least until the arrival of Hurricane Irma) 30,500 square metres (328,000 sq ft) of floor space and was fully air-conditioned. Available facilities included 46 check-in desks, 10 transit desks and 13 boarding gates. There were 20 immigration booths for arriving passengers and five exit-control booths for departing passengers.^[19] The building also featured 40 shops and food & beverage units—some unique to St. Maarten—promoted under the retail theme "So Much More".

General aviation

To accommodate the growing international and local traffic of private aircraft, PJIA has a fixed-base operator building, offering office space and private lounges with dedicated customs.^[18]

Tower

Since official opening of the new control tower, PJIA air traffic controllers have two radar systems at their disposal with ranges of 50 nautical miles (93 km) and 250 nautical miles (460 km). PJIA controllers manage 4,000 square

PJIA is equipped with VOR/DME and NDB. The airport's official operating hours are 07:00–21:00.^[18]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines provide daily or weekly service to the following destinations.

Passenger

Notes

• ^1 Winair operates between Aruba and Sint Maarten but the flight stops in Curaçao on selected days.
• ^2 Winair operates between Bonaire and Sint Maarten but the flight stops in Curaçao on both trips.

Cargo

Statistics

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Annual passenger traffic at SXM airport. See Wikidata query.

Accidents and incidents

• On 21 December 1972, a De Havilland Canada Twin Otter operated by Air Guadeloupe on behalf of Air France crashed at night into the ocean near Sint Maarten, en route from Guadeloupe; all 11 passengers on board, along with both pilots, died.^{[citation needed]}

• On 30 October 2014,
  Shorts SD-360 on behalf of FedEx, registration N380MQ performing flight SKZ-7101 from Sint Maarten (Dutch Caribbean) to San Juan (Puerto Rico) with 2 crew, was climbing out of Sint Maarten's runway 28 when the aircraft lost height and impacted waters about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) off the coast (end of the runway) at about 18:35L (22:35Z). Both pilots died.^{[citation needed}
  ]

• On 13 July 2017, a tourist was severely injured holding an airport fence when a jet blast from a plane taking off resulted in her losing her grip from the fence. She was transported to a local hospital where she later died.^[citation needed]

In popular culture

• Princess Juliana International Airport is the airport featured in the free demo version of
  Bombardier CRJ-700 on runway 10.^{[non-primary source needed}
  ]
• The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranks Princess Juliana Airport as the 4th-most dangerous airport in the world.^[26]