St Maarten Airport Update (post hurricane Irma)
By Sonja van der Drift
General update:
AIRPORTS
PRINCESS JULIANA (SXM) & GRAND CASE (SFG) are both operational since October 2017.
Arriving and departing from the small Grand Case airport (only for flights between the French Caribbean islands) is the same experience as before, the airport is fully functional. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the international airport on the Dutch side (SXM). The airport is undergoing repairs and a temporary air-conditioned tented pavilion has been provided for the departures from SXM. The same will soon be true for arrivals to SXM. The SXM airport will only be fully operational by March 2019. It seems the temporary tents are scheduled to be used for the remainder of 2018.
Flights to SXM are also limited at this time. Flights are only added to SXM based on the number of available hotel rooms. While hotels are getting ready, most will not be ready before Oct/Nov 2018, thereby slowing down the chance of having more flights return to SXM before the next high season. That said, SXMstrong.com is getting regular updates of the flights being added to SXM and you can find those updates here. In the meantime, we’ve outlined the flights we know will be operational come April 1st.
As of today:
From NEW YORK (JFK) :
Jet Blue with daily service.
From MIAMI (MIA) :
American Airlines with daily service.
From ATLANTA (ATL) :
Delta with service Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
From PARIS – ORLY (ORL) :
Air Caraibes with service Saturday.
From AMSTERDAM (AMS) :
KLM (return through Curacao) with service periodically in March, April, May & June. Check KLM website.
Added as of April 1st:
From TORONTO (YYZ) :
WestJet with service Sunday (starting April 29th).
From NEWARK (EWR) :
United Airlines with service April 14-15, April 21-22 and every Saturday starting April 28th until June 30th.
From PARIS (CDG) :
Air France with service periodically in April, May & June. Check Air France website.
Added as of June 2018:
From WASHINGTON, DC (IDA) :
United Airlines with service Saturday (starting June 9th).
Added as of August, 2018:
From PHILADELPHIA (PHL) :
American Airlines with service Saturday and Sunday (starting August 25th).
From CHARLOTTE (CLT) :
American Airlines with service Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (starting August 23rd).
NOTE: All schedules subject to change and cancellation.
FERRIES
Ferries are operational to St-Barts & Anguilla from St. Martin.
St-Barts :
Voyager Ferry from Marigot
Their service is sporadic so we encourage you to visit their website for further information.
Great Bay Express from Philipsburg
There service is offered Monday through Friday with the following schedule:
St. Maarten/St.Barts: 7:30am – 5:30pm
St. Barts/St. Maarten: 8:30am – 6:30pm
For weekend the weekend schedule, please see their website.
Anguilla :
Public Ferry from Marigot
St. Martin/Anguilla : From 8.30 am to 5.30 pm (every hour)
Anguilla/St. Martin : From 7.30 am to 4.45 pm (every hour)
Link & Funtime Charter Ferries from Simpson Bridge
Link Ferry:
St. Maarten/Anguilla : 8.45 am – 11.10 am – 1.45 pm – 3.30 pm – 5.15 pm
Anguilla/St. Maarten : 8.00 am – 10.30 am – 12.15 pm – 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm
Funtime Charters:
St. Maarten/Anguilla : 9.00 am – 12.30 pm – 4.00 pm – 5.00 pm – 5.30 pm
Anguilla/St. Maarten : 11.15 am – 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm – 4.30 pm
NOTE: All schedules subject to change and cancellation.
→ www.tsa.gov is the Transport Security Administration official website. The TSA is the USA’s transportation security agency.
→ www.catsa.gc.ca is the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority official website. The CATSA is the Canada’s transportation security agency.
→ www.seatguru.com for airline seat maps, seat advice and flight information.
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