L'Espérance Airport Grand Case Airport Aérodrome de Grand-Case Espérance |
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Passengers deboard an Air Caraïbes ATR 72 at L'Espérance Airport (2015)
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Operator | Mairie de Saint-Martin | ||||||||||
Serves | Saint-Martin | ||||||||||
Location | Grand-Case | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 20 ft / 6 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 18°06′02″N 063°02′56″W / 18.10056°N 63.04889°WCoordinates: 18°06′02″N 063°02′56″W / 18.10056°N 63.04889°W | ||||||||||
Website | saintmartin-airport.com | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Location in Saint-Martin | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2014) | |||||||||||
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Sources: French AIP, iata.org
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Passengers | 192,260 |
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Passenger Change 13-14 | 3.2% |
L'Espérance Airport (IATA: SFG, ICAO: TFFG), also known as Grand Case Airport (French: Aérodrome de Grand-Case Espérance), is a public use airport located in Grand Case, on the French side (Saint Martin) of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is used only for smaller aircraft for regional flights, as Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) on the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) of the island is the larger airport served by all major carriers including to international destinations.
In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France 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.
Since official opening of the new control-tower PJIA Air Traffic Controllers have two radar systems at their disposal with a range of 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) and 250 NM (460 km; 290 mi). PJIA air traffic control manages 4,000 sq nmi (14,000 km2; 5,300 sq mi) of airspace around the airport. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, Juliana air traffic services also provides approach control for L'Espérance and for Wallblake Airport (Anguilla), Gustaf III Airport (St. Barths, French West Indies), F.D. Roosevelt Airport (St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles) and Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (Saba, Netherlands Antilles).