Juancho E. Irausquin Airport is an airport on the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

island of

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), L ...

. Its runway is widely acknowledged as the shortest commercial runway in the world, with a length of .

Overview

The airport, named after the

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

n Minister Juancho Irausquin, has the shortest commercial runway in the world, only long, flanked on one side by high hills, with cliffs that drop into the sea at both ends. The airport is closed to jet traffic, but regional airline propeller aircraft are able to land there under waivers from The Netherlands Antilles' Civil Aviation Authority. The most common aircraft to land there are the STOL (short takeoff and landing)-capable

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

and

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

History

The idea of building an airport on Saba is credited to Remy de Haenen, who brought the idea to the Saba Economic Council along with a contractor named Jacques Deldevert. De Haenen had previously made several landings of a Vought-Sikorsky OS2U seaplane off Fort Bay harbor as early as 1946. After surveying the island by air, de Haenen suggested then-privately owned Flat Point as the site for the airport. The land was cleared and graded in only a couple of weeks. De Haenen made the first landing of an aircraft on the island of Saba on February 9, 1959, with nearly the entire population of the island in attendance. After that first landing, de Haenen was prohibited from making further landings on the island and there were no flights to or from Saba for several years. In the lead up to the 1962 parliamentary elections, the lack of an airport on the island became a big issue.

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the north ...

politician

Claude Wathey Claude Wathey (full name Albert Claudius Wathey; 24 July 1926 – January 1998), was a prominent politician of the Democratic Party Sint Maarten, Democratic Party from the island of Sint Maarten. He was knighted by the Dutch Crown for his politi ...

, who also represented Saba in the Parliament of the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

, and Aruban politician Juancho Irausquin, who was at the time Minister of Finance for the Netherlands Antilles, supported the construction of an airport. The Dutch government made 600,000

guilders Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

available to build it as part of a larger 3-year plan for the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...

. Irausquin told friends that during a harrowing voyage to Saba by sloop in 1960 he promised to look for funds to build an airport on the island if his life was spared. The company contracted to build the airport was owned by Wathey's brother Chester as well as Jacques Deldevert. On March 22, 1962, while the airport was under construction, three helicopters from the Dutch aircraft carrier landed there, marking the second time aircraft landed on the island. Then on February 1, 1963, a twin engine PA-23 Apache piloted by George Greaux landed on the newly asphalted runway. The airport officially began service on July 24, 1963. Irausquin had died the year before and his widow cut the ribbon at the official opening ceremony on September 18. Greaux and several other investors formed Windward Islands Airways (

Winair Winair, an abbreviation of Windward Islands Airways International NV, is a government-owned Dutch airline based in Sint Maarten. Founded in 1961 by Georges Greaux and Hippolyte Ledee, It has a fleet of seven aircraft serving ten destinations, ...

) in 1961, which offered service to Saba. Regular air service to

did not begin immediately due to the need for a STOL aircraft and the small number of people who could afford a ticket. In 1965, the airport went unused for six months. For a while the island was serviced by a 6-passenger STOL-capable Dornier Do-28 aircraft. The December 1, 1963, Winair timetable lists flights between Saba and Sint Maarten. Service picked up when Windward Islands Airways began flying de Havilland Twin Otters in 1965. In 1998,

Hurricane Georges Hurricane Georges () was a powerful and long-lived Cape Verde Category 4 hurricane which caused severe destruction as it traversed the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in September 1998, making eight landfalls along its path. Georges was the sevent ...

destroyed the airport's terminal building. The Dutch government funded construction of a new building and it was dedicated on December 6, 2002, to de Haenen. The propeller from de Haenen's first landing on the island is on display in the building.

Facilities

Jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by jet engines. Whereas the engines in propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much lower speeds and altitudes, je ...

are unable to land at the airport, because the runway is too short, but smaller STOL airplanes (such as the DHC-6, BN-2, and helicopters) are common sights. A small ramp and terminal are on the southwest flank of the runway. The ramp also has a designated helipad. The terminal building houses offices for Winair, immigration and security, a fire department with one fire truck, and a tower. The tower is an advisory service only and does not provide air traffic control. Aviation fuel is not available on the island of Saba.

Airlines and destinations

The only airline currently providing scheduled services to and from Irausquin Airport is locally owned Winair, which operates daily flights to Sint Maarten aboard a DHC-6 Twin Otter. On average, flights to Sint Maarten last no longer than 15 minutes.

Statistics

References

External links

* *
Winair
Local airline
Aviation Pioneers of the Caribbean

Photos
of J. Yrausquin Airport from Airliners

from World Airport Codes
Landing Saba WinAir Twin Otter, Juancho E. Irausquin Airport (TNCS / SAB)
landing video on YouTube
✈ Shortest runway in the world ! (HD 1080p) ✔
landing and takeoff video on YouTube {{Authority control Airports in Saba Buildings and structures in The Bottom International airports in the Netherlands