Owen Roberts International Airport
| Owen Roberts International Airport |
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Cayman Islands Government | ||||||||||
| Operator | Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) | ||||||||||
| Location | George Town, Grand Cayman | ||||||||||
| Hub for | Cayman Airways | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 8 ft / 2 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°WCoordinates: 19°17′33″N 081°21′33″W / 19.29250°N 81.35917°W | ||||||||||
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Sources: CIATCA
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Owen Roberts International Airport (IATA: GCM, ICAO: MWCR) is an airport located in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. It is the main international airport for the Cayman Islands as well as the main base for Cayman Airways. The airport is named after British Royal Air Force (RAF) Wing Commander Owen Roberts, a pioneer of commercial aviation in the country, and is one of the two entrance ports to the Cayman Islands. Owen Roberts International Airport was the only international airport remaining in the Caribbean to have an open-air observation "waving gallery" until January 2017 when it was closed due to reconstruction. The new upgraded Owen Roberts International Airport terminal will no longer have an observation "waving gallery".
Wg Cdr. Owen Roberts was a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force,during World War II. Following the war, Roberts retired and later founded Caribbean International Airways (CIA). By 1950, Roberts had established regular service between Cayman and Tampa, Florida; Kingston, Jamaica; and Belize. He worked to lobby Cayman Islands Commissioners Ivor Smith and Andrew Gerrard to build airfields on all three of the Cayman Islands. In 1952, construction started on an official airstrip at an estimated cost of £93,000 to construct airports on all three Cayman Islands, a 5,000 ft (1,524 m) runway, along with a terminal was constructed on Grand Cayman at the cost of £100,000. Owen Roberts had acquired two used Lockheed Lodestar twin prop airliners purchased to keep up with the competition whose interest was now piqued by the soon-to-be completed airfield at George Town.
The inaugural flight of CIA, Ltd. from Kingston, Jamaica to Grand Cayman was set for 10 April 1953. Tragically, however, the Lodestar piloted by Roberts crashed on takeoff from Palisadoes Airport. 13 people, including the 40-year-old Roberts, were killed. The only survivor of the crash was Roberts' brother-in-law, Lt. Col. Edward Remington-Hobbs. Roberts was survived by a wife, Patricia, and their two daughters, in London. His Grand son unfortunately passed before him, his name was Will Roberts. He died in a car crash in East End with his best friend Spencer Grainger. The Grand Cayman Island Airport was later named after the late Wg Cdr. Roberts in his honour.
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