For one of the smallest airports in the world, Gustav III Airport (TFFJ) on the Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy (AKA St. Barth, or St. Barts), punches way above its weight class in terms of activity. Long a playground for the jet and yacht set, the French overseas collectivity, which has less than 10,000 inhabitants, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its exclusive shores each year, most of which arrive by aircraft.
It is an irony that those who fly their private jets to the Caribbean cannot land them at St. Barth due to the airport’s single 2,100-foot long, 60-foot wide runway, which can only accommodate aircraft up to a 19-seat DHC-6 Twin Otter, with the notable exception of a Douglas DC-3 which once successfully landed there years ago.
Those private jet passengers typically land at another island with a larger airport, and take one of several scheduled or charter air services such as Tradewind Aviation, Winair, St. Barth Executive, or St. Barth Commuter, for the short hop to TFFJ. St. Maarten/Saint Martin serves as the source of much of the traffic, with as many as 100 private jet arrivals a day during peak periods and 80 percent of those passengers heading on to St. Barth. It is a geopolitical quirk that trips to St. Barth from Princess Juliana International Airport (70 percent of the traffic) are considered an international flight, while those from Grand Case on the French side of the island, under the same jurisdiction as St. Barth, are considered domestic.
The island sees its peak season from the end of November through March, and during the past several years of the pandemic, it came to be viewed as an oasis from the concerns of Covid. During peak traffic, the airport, which only operates during daylight hours, will have up to 42 operations an hour, consisting largely of Twin Otters, Cessna Grand Caravans, or Pilatus PC-12s operated by the four major local carriers. On January 2 this year, the airport tallied a new activity record with 284 operations between 7 a.m. and sunset, according to airport manager Fabrice Danet.
Given that extreme tempo, the airport authority goes to great lengths to make sure things go smoothly, as any service disruptions could snarl the crucial aviation link as well as travel plans for hundreds of visitors. First and foremost, any pilot intending to land at the airport must first be specifically trained and evaluated on its unique procedures before being allowed to do so. In addition to its short runway, the airport is surrounded on three sides by terrain and pilots must fly a steep approach down to a notch between two hills. Arriving aircraft must also clear a road and traffic roundabout situated above the arrival end of the runway as they descend. The runway itself has a 2-degree downslope heading down to the ocean, and as soon as it touches down, the aircraft must be brought to a stop in the brief distance remaining or continue into the water. Strong winds are also an occasional consideration. After coming to a stop, the aircraft must pivot 180 degrees and taxi back up the runway to the short connector that leads to the ramp.
“When you add all that, it makes it interesting,” said Bertrand Magras, managing partner of St. Barth Commuter which operates a fleet of six Grand Caravans, having just added its newest, its second EX model earlier this summer. “It’s challenging but until the last minute if something is not going as planned you can always go around.” Magras acknowledged those challenges have had some consequences over the years. “There have been some mishaps a long time ago,” he told AIN during a recent visit. “An overrun here means you are pretty much in for a little swim.” As a result, the airport now requires re-evaluation for pilots every six months. It also has its own fire and rescue operation to quickly handle any emergency situation and clear the runway.
The airport’s ramp outside its diminutive terminal (complete with a miniature baggage carousel) is divided into numbered and marked segments for a form of flow control, and during heavy traffic periods, aircraft move through as if on a conveyor belt. There is no fueling service at the airport, which was created in 1961, and aircraft are expected not to linger on the ground and occupy the limited and valuable parking space longer than 10 minutes during crunch times. “We have 15 spots,” said Danet. “I have tried my best to optimize the markings on the ground to make autonomous entry/exit spots.”
TFFJ has its own tower staffed with aeronautical flight information service officers who provide flight information service and alerting service but do not issue air traffic control instruction. Like at many of the small islands in the region, airspace heading into and out of the airport is controlled by the tower at Princess Juliana Airport, with the St. Barth tower providing runway clearance communications as well as controlling the ground movements in what can be an intricate ballet during peak demand days.
St. Barth Commuter, since its founding in 1995 has transported half a million passengers to or from St. Barth Airport. It occupies the lone 4,300-sq-ft hangar on the airfield, which is able to accommodate one of its aircraft for maintenance at a time. The company performs all of its aircraft servicing including engine swaps at the facility. It offers approximately 20 scheduled flights a day between St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana, and Grand Case airports, as well as Guadaloupe and Antigua. Charter and medevac services are also offered. In fact, medevac flights are the only nighttime departures permitted at TFFJ, and the aircraft will then overnight at the destination (usually St. Maarten), and return the following morning.
