V.C. Bird International Airport
| V. C. Bird International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority | ||||||||||
| Location | St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda | ||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 62 ft / 19 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 17°08′12″N 061°47′35″W / 17.13667°N 61.79306°WCoordinates: 17°08′12″N 061°47′35″W / 17.13667°N 61.79306°W | ||||||||||
| Website | vcbia.com | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 ANU
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| Statistics (2009) | |||||||||||
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Source: DAFIF, 2009 World Airport Traffic Report.
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| Passengers | 919,748 |
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| Passenger change 08–09 |
 8.6% |
| Aircraft movements | 40,489 |
| Movements change 08–09 |
3.0% |
V. C. Bird International Airport (IATA: ANU, ICAO: TAPA) is an international airport located on the island of Antigua, 8 km (5.0 mi) northeast of St. John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.
The airport originally was operated by the United States Army Air Forces.
The airport was built as a United States Army Air Forces base around 1941, and named Coolidge Airfield after Capt. Hamilton Coolidge (1895–1918), a United States Army Air Service pilot killed in World War I.
Flying units assigned to the airfield were:
Renamed Coolidge Air Force Base in 1948, it was closed as a result of budgetary cutbacks in 1949, with right of re-entry retained by the United States. Agreements were subsequently reached with the United Kingdom and, later, the Antigua government upon independence, for the establishment and maintenance of missile tracking facilities. Antigua Air Station was established on a portion of the former Coolidge AFB. As of 2011[update], NASA continues to utilize the Antigua facility for launch tracking services on an as-needed basis; and did so for the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on 26 November 2011.
Upon the closure of the base in 1949 it became a civil airport. It was known as Coolidge International Airport until 1985, when it was named in honor of Sir Vere Cornwall Bird (1910–1999), the first prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
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