Princess Juliana International Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Princess Juliana International Airport
nativename =

---

IATA = SXM
ICAO = TNCM
type = Public
owner = Princess Juliana Int'l Airport Holding Company N.V.
operator =
city-served =
location = Sint Maarten (St. Martin)
elevation-f = 13
elevation-m = 4
website = [http://www.pjiae.com/ www.pjiae.com]
metric-rwy = y
r1-number = 09/27
r1-length-m = 2,349
r1-length-f = 7,707
r1-surface = Asphalt

Princess Juliana International Airport Airport codes|SXM|TNCM serves the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean, after Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2005, the airport handled 1,663,226 passengers. [ [http://www.pjiae.com/business-movements.html Traffic statistics] ] 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. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who was crown princess when the airport opened. There is also an airport on the French side of the island near Marigot, called Grand Case Airport or L'Espérance Airport.

History

The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985 then in 2001.

Modernization

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. [ [http://www.pjiae.com/masterplan.html PJIAE Masterplan] ]

Phase I was a short-term program 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. [ [http://www.pjiae.com/phase-one.html Phase I] ]

Phase II included the construction of a radar facility and a new air traffic control tower, the construction of a new and more modern, convert|27000|m2, terminal, capable of handling 2,5 million passenger per year, and the construction of a Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of convert|150|m, including a convert|60|m overrun, on both ends of its runway, to comply with ICAO rules. The new air traffic control tower and the radar station commenced operations on March 29, 2004, while the new terminal opened on November 10, 2006. [ [http://www.pjiae.com/phase-two.html Phase II] ]

If traffic develops as forecast, Phase III of the masterplan will be executed, consisting of an extension of the new terminal building and the construction of a full parallel taxiway system. [ [http://www.pjiae.com/phase-three.html Phase III] ]

However, the oil price increases since 2003 began impacting discretionary air travel worldwide by early 2008,cite web
url=http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/travel/2008-04-30-jet-fuel-high-fares_N.htm
title=Rising costs reshaping air travel across the USA
publisher=USA Today
accessdate=2008-05-10
last=Adams
first=Marilyn] and the prospect of further price increasescite web
url=http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/energy/goldman-sachs-oil-prices-hit---barrel/
title=Goldman Sachs: Oil Prices May Hit $150-$200 a Barrel
publisher=Fox Business Network
accessdate=2008-05-08
date=2008-05-06
last=Lesova
first=Polya ] threatens to reverse the recent expansion of tourist travel by jet which began with the 1980s oil glut.cite web
url=http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=154&a=6390
title=The Peak Oil Crisis: The Half-Life For Air Travel
publisher=www.inteldaily.com
accessdate=2008-05-10
last=Whipple
first=Tom]

Runway and facilities

[
http://www.ianandwendy.com/st-martin here] |thumb] The airport is famous for its short runway — at only convert|2180|m, [http://www.pjiae.com/pdfs/company-profile.pdf PJIAE Company Profile] (2007)] it is barely long enough for heavy jets to land. Therefore, incoming airplanes approaching the island on short final for Runway 09 have to fly extremely low, passing only 10-20 meters (30-60 ft.) over relaxing tourists on Maho Beach. Pictures of low flying aircraft were published in several news magazines worldwide in the early 2000 and looked so unreal that some were even disputed as fakes. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images made the airport one of the world favorites place among planespotters. To meet international and local regulations a 150 meter safety extension was required.

As of early 2007, KLM stopped its weekly Boeing 747 flight to Princess Juliana, (replaced by a McDonnell Douglas MD-11), leaving the Paris-Orly Airport based French carrier Corsairfly to be the only airline to operate the 747, at a frequency of once a week in low season (April through October) and twice a week in high season (November through March) [ [http://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/airport.php?id=SXM Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > Airports > Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport profile ] ] .

Despite the difficulties in approach, there has been no records of major incidents at the airport.

Apron

The main apron measures 72.500 m² with another 5.000 m² on Eastern apron. For freight handling a dedicated apron of 7.000 m² is available.

Terminal

The new 4 stories terminal building offers 27.000 m² floor space. Available facilities include 42 check-in desks, 8 transit-desks and 11 boarding-gates. For arriving passengers 10 immigration booths are available and 5 emigration booths for departures.

Private aviation

To accommodate the growing international and local traffic of private aircraft Princess Juliana International Airport does have a Fixed Base Operators building, offering office space and private lounges with dedicated Customs.

Tower

Since official opening of the new control-tower PJIA Air Traffic Controllers have two radar systems at their disposal with a range of 50 and 250 nautical miles. PJIA air traffic control manages 4.000 square NM of airspace round the airport. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, Juliana air traffic services also provides approach control for Wallblake Airport(Anguilla), L'Esperance Airport(Grand Case, French West Indies), Gustave Airport(St. Barths, French West Indies), F.D. Roosevelt Airport(St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles) and Y. Yrasquin Airport(Saba, Netherlands Antilles).

Navigation

PJIA is equipped with VOR/DME and NDB. The airport's official opening hours are from 07:00 - 21:00 hrs.

Gallery

A_Piper PA-28 Cherokee light aircraft on short final for Runway 09.
Maho Beach can be dangerous...

In Popular Culture

PJIA is the featured airport in the Microsoft Flight Simulator X free demo version.

Airlines and destinations

*Air Antilles Express (Pointe-à-Pitre, Saint Barthélemy)
**Air Guyane Express (Cayenne)
*Air Canada (Toronto-Pearson) [seasonal]
*Air Caraïbes (Saint Barthélemy, Pointe-à-Pitre)
*Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Air Transat (Montreal, Toronto-Pearson)
*American Airlines (Miami, New York-JFK)
**American Eagle (San Juan)
*Anguilla Air Services (Anguilla)
*Arkefly (Amsterdam)
*Aserca Airlines (Caracas) [seasonal charters]
*Avianca (Bogotá) [seasonal charters]
*CanJet [seasonal charters]
*Caribair (Santo Domingo, Punta Cana)
*Caribbean Airlines, (Barbados, Kingston, Port-of-Spain)
*Continental Airlines (Newark)
*Corsairfly (Paris-Orly)
*Delta Air Lines (Atlanta)
*Dutch Antilles Express (Curaçao, Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo)
*Insel Air (Curaçao, Bonaire, Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo)
*JetBlue Airways (New York-JFK)
*KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam, Curaçao)
* LIAT (Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, San Juan, Tortola)
*Saint Barth Commuter (Saint Barthélemy)
*Salvador Internacional (Salvador da Bahia, São Paulo, Brasilia)
*Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale)
*Take Air (Dominica)
*TAM Linhas Aéreas (São Paulo, Brasilia, Salvador da Bahia) [seasonal charters]
*Sun Country Airlines (Minneapolis/St Paul) [seasonal]
*Trans Anguilla Air (Anguilla)
*United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles)
*US Airways (Charlotte, Philadelphia)
*Windward Islands Airways (Anguilla, Antigua, Beef Island, Dominica, Montserrat, Nevis, Santo Domingo, Saba, St. Barts, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Lucia)
*WestJet [seasonal charters]

Cargo airlines

*Ameriflight
*Amerijet International (Miami, Santiago (DR), Santo Domingo)
*CaribEx
*DHL
*FedEx
*Four Star Air Cargo (Puerto Rico)
*Roblex Aviation (Puerto Rico)
*Skyway Enterprises (Puerto Rico)

ee also

*List of airports in Saint Martin

References

External links

* [http://www.pjiae.com/ Princess Juliana International Airport] (official website)
* [http://www.flysxm.com/ Arrival/Departure Info Princess Juliana International Airport]
*WikiMapia|18.0408|-63.1088|15
*WAD|TNCM
*GCM|TNCM|TNCM/SXM
*NWS-current|TNCM
*ASN|SXM
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIQUo5Si_WA Video of a landing]