If one day you were resting by the beach facing the sea and you saw a plane coming towards you, don’t worry, maybe an airport runway has been built behind you and that plane is landing.

This article is for the introduction of an interesting and at the same time very dangerous airport, the description of which you will see below along with pictures:

Princess Juliana International Airport is located in the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. This airport is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean.

But it is interesting to know that Princess Juliana Airport was established in 1942 as a military runway and became a civilian airport the following year. In 1964, the airport underwent changes, including a new control tower and a new terminal.

Due to the excessive traffic of the airport in 1997, a program was considered for the airport to improve the existing facilities and improve the quality of services in various sectors and to modernize and widen the runway, increase the capacity of taxiways, build a A new apron as well as an update of the old terminal were among the other programs that were completed in 2001.

In the following years, the facilities of the airport increased again, including the new control tower and radar station in 2004 and the opening of the new terminal in 2006.

This airport is very famous for its special location and its short runway (7200 feet) because this size is not enough for heavy planes and that is why they approach the island with a very low altitude. So that these planes pass from a distance of 10 to 20 meters from the beach tourists.

It is worth mentioning that due to the climatic conditions of the region and the existence of a mountain that surrounds this island on one side, the take-off and departure stage by plane due to the need to turn around the plane in time to avoid hitting the mountain is much more difficult and difficult than the Eproj stage. (Airplane flight before landing) It is an airplane that is carried out over water and sea.

The incoming planes perform their approach before reaching runway number 10 over the famous Maho beach at a very low altitude. The exciting approach of the planes in this airport has made this airport a very suitable place for aerial photographers among other airports in the world. And this is the reason why many beautiful photos and videos of this airport and the airplanes operating at the airport are seen every day in various magazines and websites.

Due to the difficult conditions of this airport in terms of landing and taking off, no big and important problem has happened until now, except for the accident in 1970 (an accident related to a Dakota). Below is the link related to important events and accidents related to this airport.

The terminal of this airport has 4 floors with an area of ​​27,000 square meters, where facilities such as 42 entrance gates, 11 passport control gates for incoming passengers and 5 gates for outgoing passengers are installed. In addition, there are 40 doors in the airport terminal. There is a store, coffee shop, and fast food.

The controllers of the control tower have 2 radars to guide and monitor the flight traffic in the area. The first radar covers 93 km and the second one covers 460 km. Also, the NM 4 airport control tower covers the airspace around the airport.

In terms of navigation, this airport is equipped with VOR/DME and NDB systems.

The working hours of this airport are from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm every day and from 9:00 pm to 7:00 am a flight ban plan is applied to control noise pollution and the comfort of the people in that area (like London Heathrow).

29 airlines operate in this airport and fly to countless international and domestic destinations. The most important airlines operating in this airport are Air Canada, Air France, KLM, etc. Also, in this airport, there are 4 airlines in They operate in the field of cargo services for domestic and international destinations.