Princess Juliana International Airport

Princess Juliana International Airport (TNCM) sits on the Dutch side of Sint Maarten, two miles west of Philipsburg. It is the principal commercial and business-aviation gateway to St. Maarten / Saint-Martin and a key hub for the northeastern Caribbean. Commercial service is significant (American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Air France, KLM seasonal) and the airport handles a substantial year-round flow of business aviation serving the Sint Maarten / Saint-Martin yacht harbor, the surrounding island resort circuit (Anguilla, St. Barths, Nevis, St. Kitts), and the Caribbean private-aviation cluster generally.

The single runway 10/28 is 7,710 feet — comfortable for heavy and most ultra-long-range jets at typical Caribbean stage lengths. The airport is famous worldwide for the proximity of Maho Beach to the 10 threshold, where arrival aircraft pass directly overhead at low altitude — a tourist attraction that is also a serious safety consideration for jet-blast hazard during departures. Signature Sint Maarten and other FBOs handle private movements. Field elevation is 13 feet, no density-altitude concerns. Hurricane season (June through November) is the dominant operational risk — TNCM was devastated by Irma in 2017 and has rebuilt. The structural winter peak (December–April) drives ramp pressure for the surrounding-island shuttle market, particularly KCJB (St. Barths Gustaf III), which is 6 minutes by light aircraft.

Princess Juliana International Airport 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.