Princess Juliana International Airport

(Redirected from Sxm airport) Airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, Sint Maarten

Princess Juliana
International Airport

IATA: SXM
ICAO: TNCM

Summary

Airport type

Public

Owner

Princess Juliana International Airport Holding Company N.V.

Location

Sint Maarten (Saint-Martin)

Hub for

Winair

Elevation 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

SXMLocation in Sint Maarten

Runways

Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	m	ft	Surface
10/28	2,300	7,546	Asphalt concrete

Source: airnav.com

Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) is the main airport on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is located on the Dutch side of the island, in the country of Sint Maarten, close to the shore of Simpson Bay Lagoon. In 2015, the airport handled 1,829,543 passengers and around 60,000 aircraft movements. The airport serves as a hub for Winair and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustatius. It is named after Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who landed there while she was heir presumptive in 1944, the year after the airport opened. The airport has very low-altitude flyover landing approaches because one end of its runway is extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach. While Princess Juliana International is the primary aviation gateway to the island, there is also a smaller public-use airport on the French side, in the French Collectivity of Saint Martin, called Grand Case-Espérance Airport.

History

Foundation and early years

The airport began as a US military airstrip in 1942 during World War II. The following year, the first commercial flight landed on 3 December 1943. The future Queen Juliana visited the island using the airport in 1944. Eventually, the airport was named after her. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985 and 2001.

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.

Phase I was a short-term program 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.

Phase II included the construction of a radar facility and a new air traffic control tower, the construction of a new and more modern, 27,000 square metres (290,000 sq ft), terminal, capable of handling 2.5 million passengers per year, and the construction of a Runway End Safety Area (RESA) of 150 metres (490 ft), including a 60 metres (200 ft) 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 29 March 2004, while the new terminal opened in late October 2006. The terminal has 4 jetways for large aircraft like 747s. 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.

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.

Development since 2010

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. 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, the 747 did make a brief comeback 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. In September 2018, KLM officials confirmed that they hoped to resume direct flights between Amsterdam and St. Maarten by November 2019.

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. The airport reopened on 10 October 2017 using temporary facilities while repair work commenced. 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. 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. On 15 October 2024 the new arrival hall has been reopened featuring improved baggage handling systems, streamlined immigration and customs processes.

Facilities

Warning sign between runway 10 and Maho Beach

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.

Pilots guided by GNSS take a more efficient approach than those operating under VFR. Local airport rules prohibit aircraft from flying lower than 500 feet (150 m)

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. In 2017 a New Zealand woman died from injuries sustained by jet blast from a departing aircraft. Tourists have been often criticised for dangerous behavior on the beach.

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.

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. 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.

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 NM of airspace known as the Juliana TCA around the airport, roughly between 25 nautical miles (46 km) and 42 nautical miles (78 km) of the St Maarten VOR-DME. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, these controllers also provide approach control for Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (Anguilla), L'Espérance Airport (French Saint Martin), Gustaf III Airport (St. Barths), F.D. Roosevelt Airport (St. Eustatius) and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba).

Navigation

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

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

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

Airlines	Destinations
Air Canada	Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
Air Century	Santo Domingo–La Isabela
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Pointe-à-Pitre
Air Transat	Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau, Toronto–Pearson
American Airlines	Charlotte, Miami, Philadelphia Seasonal: New York–JFK
Anguilla Air Services	Anguilla
Arajet	Santo Domingo–Las Américas
Caribbean Airlines	Barbados, Kingston–Norman Manley, Port of Spain
Coastal Air	Anguilla, Dominica–Canefield, Nevis, St. Croix, St. Eustatius
Copa Airlines	Panama City–Tocumen
Delta Air Lines	Atlanta, New York–JFK Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul
Frontier Airlines	San Juan
InterCaribbean Airways	Tortola
JetBlue	New York–JFK Seasonal: Boston
KLM	Amsterdam, Port of Spain
La Compagnie	Seasonal charter: Newark
Silver Airways	San Juan
Sky High	Santo Domingo–Las Américas
Spirit Airlines	Fort Lauderdale
St Barth Commuter	St. Barthélemy
Sun Country Airlines	Seasonal: Minneapolis/St. Paul
Sunrise Airways	Antigua, Port-au-Prince, St. Kitts
Sunwing Airlines	Toronto–Pearson Seasonal: Montreal–Trudeau
Trans Anguilla Airways	Anguilla
United Airlines	Newark Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Washington–Dulles
West Indies Helicopters	St. Barthélemy, St. Martin
WestJet	Toronto–Pearson
Winair	Antigua, Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Castries, Curaçao, Dominica–Canefield, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, Fort-de-France, Nevis, Pointe-à-Pitre, Port-au-Prince, Saba, St. Barthélemy, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts, St. Vincent–Argyle, Santo Domingo–Las Américas, Tortola

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

Airlines	Destinations
Air Cargo Carriers	San Juan
Amerijet International	Miami

Statistics

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found 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.

On 29 October 2014, Skyway Enterprises Flight 7101, a Shorts SD-360 (registration N380MQ) flying on behalf of FedEx crashed into the ocean 2 nmi (3.7 km) southwest of the airport, killing both pilots. The investigation concluded that the pilot flying suffered from a night-time somatogravic illusion after the flaps were retracted, causing the pilot to pitch the plane down into the sea.

On 12 July 2017, Caribbean Airlines Flight 457, a Boeing 737-800 (registration 9Y-TAB) was taking off from runway 10 when the jet blast from the engines knocked over a woman from New Zealand, causing serious injuries. The woman was pronounced dead at hospital.

In popular culture

Princess Juliana International Airport is the airport featured in the free demo version of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. In the full version of the program, it is the destination on the mission called "Caribbean Landing" where a player can land a Bombardier CRJ-700 on runway 10.
The History Channel program Most Extreme Airports ranks Princess Juliana Airport as the 4th-most dangerous airport in the world.