Major Henk Fernandes Airport ( nl, Majoor Henk Fernandes Vliegveld) , also known as Nieuw Nickerie Airport, is near

Nieuw Nickerie Nieuw Nickerie. Retrieved 17 November 2009. is the third largest city in Suriname with a population estimated at . It is the capital city of the Nickerie district, and the terminus of the East-West Link. Nieuw Nickerie lies on the mouth of the ...

, the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of the Nickerie

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

in Suriname. This is one of the oldest airports in Suriname, in use since 1953, when the

Piper Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

(PZ-NAC) of Kappel-van Eyck named "Colibri" landed there from

Zorg en Hoop Airport Zorg en Hoop Airport is an airport serving general aviation in the city of Paramaribo, Suriname. It is west of the Suriname River, between the city quarters of Zorg en Hoop and Flora. The runway length includes a displaced threshold on Run ...

. The airport is named after army Major Henk Fernandes, who perished in a helicopter crash in 1982. It was in fact the first aircraft of the Air Force of the young independent nation of Suriname, the Hughes 500 - Model 369D helicopter, used for patrolling missions, in March of that year, killing all five crewmembers aboard at the time (Major Henk Fernandes, second lieutenant Norman de Miranda, soldier Tjon a Kon and soldier Kowid and American pilot Foster Ford). Battalion commander Major Henk Fernandes, had previous been appointed to replace Sergeant Laurens Neede as Minister of Army and Police in 1982. However the crash occurred before the inauguration of the then new twelve ministers cabinet of Suriname under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Henry Neijhorst. In 2018 Surinamese Minister Patrick Pengel of Public Works Transport & Communication closed the control tower of the Major H. Fernandes airport in Nickerie. The reason for this decision was the fact that the tower is currently in a very deplorable state. Although he was very impressed with the way air traffic controllers did their job despite these difficult circumstances. But it could not go on like this. In May 2019 Sanjay Ramsamoedj, chairman of the Eastern Council in the Nickerie district, pleaded for a complete rehabilitation of the Major Henry Fernandes Airport in Zeedijk. As a border district, Nickerie must prepare to respond to the developments that are underway in Guyana. Ramsamoedj expects the tourism sector to grow as well. According to district commissioner Nisha Kurban-Baboe, Vijay Chotkan, the new minister of Public Works, Transport and Communications, indicated during a meeting with all DCs that all airports in Suriname will be addressed. She thinks that Zeedijk airport will also be rehabilitated in that context.

Charters and destinations

Charter Airlines & Crop Dusting companies serving this airport are:

References

External links

OpenStreetMap - Nieuw Nickerie Airport
FallingRain * {{authority control Airports in Suriname Nickerie District Buildings and structures in Nieuw Nickerie Airports established in 1953 1953 establishments in South America

Charters and destinations

See also

References

External links