Maurice Bishop International Airport
| Maurice Bishop International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Grenada Airports Authority | ||||||||||
| Location | St. George's, Grenada | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 41 ft / 12 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 12°00′15″N 061°47′10″W / 12.00417°N 61.78611°WCoordinates: 12°00′15″N 061°47′10″W / 12.00417°N 61.78611°W | ||||||||||
| Website | www.mbiagrenada.com | ||||||||||
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Source: DAFIF
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Maurice Bishop International Airport (IATA: GND, ICAO: TGPY), formerly known as Point Salines International Airport, is an international airport located in the parish of St. George's. The town of St. George's is about 5 mi (8.0 km) north of the airport and is the capital of the island nation of Grenada. The airport is located on Point Salines, the most southwestern point of the island.
The unfinished airport was chosen as the jump off point for the invasion of Grenada by the United States in October 1983. The event that precipitated the U.S.-led invasion was not the construction of the airport, but, rather, a violent coup in which Prime Minister Bishop was killed. The American justification for the invasion was the threat to American medical students at St. George's University, whose campus is a short distance from the airport.
More than 500 Rangers from 1st and 2nd Battalions of the United States Army 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a risky daylight low altitude parachute assault onto the airport. Despite resistance from Grenadian armed forces (PRA - People's Revolutionary Army) and armed Cuban construction workers, the Rangers secured all of their objectives on the airfield quickly. The seizure of the airfield allowed United States Air Force C-141 transport planes to land and unload paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division.
The building of the airport — designed to replace the obsolete Pearls Airport on the north side of the island — was cited by U.S. President Ronald Reagan as evidence that the Grenadian government intended to allow it to be used as a way point for Soviet military aircraft en route to Cuba. He buttressed this claim with the evidence that it was being built, in part, by Cuban workers. The contention that the airport had any military function was vehemently denied by Grenada's Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
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