St Martin’s Princess Juliana International Airport, known worldwide for its proximity to the beach where tourists and beach-goers can see the aircrafts swoop within spitting distance will be reopened this month after being damaged in recent hurricanes.
Dutch carrier KLM will restart its twice weekly services from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to the Caribbean hub, with a stopover in Curacao, on October 29. Regular services to Saba, St Eustatius, St Barts, and St Kitts by Winair is also expected to start from October 6. More destinations might be added in future. The carrier will also operate special commercial and repatriation flights between Curacao and St Maarten on October 5, 7 and 10.
The recent devastating hurricanes caused severe damage to St Maarten causing the buildings to be flattened and infrastructure decimated. On September 30 it was estimated the airport would not be restored to “all its glory” for another 35 weeks, but would be functioning optimally sooner than that, according to the country’s Minister of Tourism, Melissa Arrindell-Doncher. The official Caribbean tourism website stated that the entire airport perimeter fencing was destroyed and all four jet bridges sustained substantial structural damage. It also said that the swing cabs were blown off all four bridges and all metal entrance doors attached between the bridges and the terminal building were blown in.
Rated as one of the world’s scariest and scenic airport landings, Princess Juliana is certainly one-off an experience. It is a mandate for the pilots to make regular instrument checks to ensure the correct altitude before landing. The take-off involves a U-turn to avoid the mountains that loom large at the end of the runway.
