L'Espérance AirportSt-Martin.org (official tourism website) - L'Espérance Airport, Grand Case
, also known as Grand Case Airport (french: Aérodrome de Grand-Case Espérance), is a public use

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

located in Grand Case, on the French side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is mainly used for flights by regional passenger aircraft (ATR) flying to Guadeloupe and Saint Barth, as well as used by private aircraft. It is the second and smaller airport of Saint Maarten, after

Princess Juliana International Airport 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 ...

(SXM) which is located on the Dutch side of the island. Grand Case airport is managed by EDEIS, a major player in airport operations and engineering in France where it manages 18 airports. In 2017, the renovation of the airport was completed that included a modernized terminal building, fire station upgrade, extended parking apron, and new control tower. In 2018 a new hangar for line maintenance purposes was completed. The airport targets for more than 200,000 passengers movements a year.

Tower

The control-tower of PJIA Air Traffic Control at Princess Juliana Airport on the Dutch side of St.Maarten has two radar systems at their disposal with a range of and . PJIA air traffic control manages of airspace around the airport. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, Juliana air traffic services also provides approach control for Grand Case airport.

Runway and facilities

Incoming aircraft approach the island on short final for runway 12 over the bay of Grand-Case, with a corresponding view. When wind direction changes, which is common, incoming airplanes approach the island on short final for runway 30, in the opposite direction. Larger aircraft such as the

ATR 72-500 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

powerback Powerback is used by aircraft to move backwards on the ground using the power of their engines along with the aircraft's thrust reversal. Propeller driven (turboprop) aircraft tend to use powerbacks as a means of reversing; powerbacking is often pro ...

after lining up on the runway for departure, due to the short runway. The regional Espérance Airport at Grand Case allows the quickest transfers for commercial inter-island aircraft and for private aircraft. Operators are required to send a flight request to EDEIS FBO SERVICE.

Airlines and destinations

The following commercial airlines provide scheduled passenger service:

Statistics

Joint border control with the Kingdom of the Netherlands

In 1994, the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows for joint Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called "risk flights". After some delay, the treaty was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2007. Though the treaty is now in force, its provisions are not yet implemented as the working group specified in the treaty is not yet installed.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:L'Esperance Airport Airports in the Collectivity of Saint Martin Grand Case