St. Maarten Airport !!!

Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) (also known as Sint Maarten International Airport) serves the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. In 2007, the airport handled 1,647,824 passengers and 103,650 aircraft movements.^[2] 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 as crown princess landed here in 1944, the year after the airport opened. There is also an airport on the French side of the island, called Aéroport de Grand Case or L'Espérance Airport. The airport is perhaps best known for very low-altitude flyover landing approaches due to one end of its runway being extremely close to the shore and Maho Beach.

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 and 2001.

Accidents and Incidents

Although the airport is as close to the beach as it is, there have only been 2 major accidents.

• 2 May 1970 – ALM Flight 980, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9CF crashed into the ocean in bad weather killing 22 of the 57 passengers in addition to one crew member. The cause was found to be fuel exhaustion due to several attempts to land the aircraft. The aircraft was not recovered.

• 21 December 1972 – Air France De Havilland Canada Twin Otter crashed into the ocean en route from Guadeloupe, killing all 11 passengers on board along with both pilots.