George F. L. Charles Airport

Aéroport George F. L. Charles
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Saint Lucia
OperatorSaint Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority
ServesCastries, Saint Lucia
LocationVigie, Castries
Opened1941 (1941)
Hub forWiggins Airways[1]
Time zoneAST (UTC−04:00)
Elevation AMSL22 ft / 7 m
Coordinates14°01′13″N 060°59′35″W / 14.02028°N 60.99306°W / 14.02028; -60.99306
Websitehttp://www.stlucia-airport.com/
Map
SLU is located in Saint Lucia
SLU
SLU
Location in Saint Lucia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 1,898 6,227 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H1 16 60 Asphalt
Statistics (2016)
Passengers195,859
Passenger change 15–16Increase1.2%
Aircraft movements17,569
Movements change 15–16Increase2.51%
Source: DAFIF[2] 2012 SLASPA Statistics

George F. L. Charles Airport (commonly known as Vigie Airport) (IATA: SLU, ICAO: TLPC) is the smaller of the two airports in Saint Lucia, the other being Hewanorra International Airport. It is located 2 km (1.2 mi) north of Castries, the capital city. George F. L. Charles Airport is managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority (SLASPA). Its runway runs parallel to a pristine beach, Vigie Beach, which is a popular tourist attraction.

Historical airline service

British West Indies Airways (BWIA) was serving Vigie Field (which was the previous name of the airport) as early as 1950 with flights operated one or more days of the week to Barbados, Grenada, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Kitts operated with Lockheed Lodestar prop aircraft.[3] By 1965, BWIA was operating daily flights into the airport with Vickers Viscount turboprop airliners on a round trip routing of Port of Spain - Grenada - Barbados - St. Lucia - Martinique - Guadeloupe - Antigua.[4] The same year, Leeward Islands Air Transport was operating a round trip flight six days a week on a routing of Antigua - Guadeloupe - Dominica - Martinique - St. Lucia - St. Vincent with Hawker Siddeley HS 748 turboprop aircraft.[5] By the summer of 2001, American Eagle was operating six daily flights from the airport nonstop to San Juan on behalf of American Airlines via a code sharing agreement with these services being flown by San Juan-based Executive Airlines with ATR-42 and ATR-72 turboprop aircraft.[6]

Renaming of airport

The airport was renamed on 4 August 1997 in honour of Saint Lucia politician Sir George Frederick Lawrence Charles (1916–2004).[7] The airport had previously been known as Vigie Field.

Traffic

On average, George F. L. Charles Airport handles 32,000 flights per year carrying 394,000 passengers. Most of these flights operate with turboprop aircraft such as the ATR 72-500 or the de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8.

George F. L. Charles Airport entrance

The airport currently has no scheduled jet service. All jet services into St. Lucia, including transatlantic flights, operate at the present time via Hewanorra International Airport, located on the southeast portion of the island.

Previous jet service

The airport previously had scheduled passenger jet service flown by Caribair (Puerto Rico) which in 1968 was operating McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners on a daily basis with nonstop flights to Antigua and Barbados with direct jet service to Port of Spain, Trinidad, St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Croix and St. Thomas.[8] In 1973, Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) was operating stretched British Aircraft Corporation BAC One-Eleven series 500 twin jets on nonstop flights to Antigua, Barbados and Fort-de-France, Martinique as well as direct, no change of plane jet service with the BAC One-Eleven to Port of Spain, Trinidad, St. Maarten and San Juan, Puerto Rico.[9] In 1995, Carib Express was operating British Aerospace BAe 146-100 jet flights into the airport nonstop from Barbados, Dominica and St. Vincent as well as one stop BAe 146 service from Port of Spain and St. Kitts.[10] Another previous jet operator was BWIA West Indies Airways (operating as BWIA International at the time) which in 1996 was operating McDonnell Douglas MD-80 jetliners between the airport and Miami twice a week and also twice a week between the airport and New York JFK Airport with both of these direct, no change of plane flights making an intermediate stop in Antigua as well as flying MD-80 service several days a week nonstop to Barbados with these flights then continuing on to Port of Spain.[11]

Vigie Beach, immediately opposite the airport check-in and departure lounge area

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
Air Antilles Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, Fort-de-France [12]
Caribbean Airlines Barbados,[13] St. Vincent–Argyle,[14] Port of Spain[15]
InterCaribbean Airways Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, St. Vincent–Argyle[16][17]
LIAT Antigua, Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, St. Vincent–Argyle (all end January 24, 2024)[18][19]

Cargo

AirlinesDestinationsRefs
Air Cargo Carriers Dominica–Douglas-Charles, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent [20]
Ameriflight Aguadilla, San Juan [21]
DHL Aviation Fort-de-France, Grenada, Saint Vincent [22]
FedEx Feeder Aguadilla, Fort-de-France, Grenada, Saint Vincent [23]
Passageway at George F. L. Charles Airport, in Saint Lucia

Other facilities

The airport houses the George Charles Outstation of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority,[24] General Aviation Services, and the Island Flyers Club.

The airport offers an RNAV and NDB approach only on Runway 9. Landings on Runway 27 are strictly visual.

Accidents and incidents

On 8 November 2015, a Beechcraft Model 99, registered N7994H, veered off the runway into a grassy area at George F. L. Charles Airport after the aircraft's right landing gear malfunctioned. The sole occupant of the aircraft, the pilot, was not harmed. Following the incident, Hummingbird Air suspended all operations, and the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority launched an investigation.

George F. L. Charles Airport apron from the passenger's passageway

References

  1. ↑ "Route Map". 4 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Airport information for TLPC". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
  3. ↑ http://www.airliners.net, Dec. 14, 1950 BWIA timetable
  4. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, Dec. 15, 1965 BWIA timetable
  5. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, Dec. 15, 1965 BWIA timetable, LIAT flight schedules
  6. ↑ July 2, 2001 American Airlines system timetable, St. Lucia Vigie flight schedules
  7. ↑ "St Lucia government press release concerning re-naming" (Press release). stlucia.gov.lc. Archived from the original on 2005-11-26.
  8. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com, July 1, 1968 Caribair system timetable
  9. ↑ http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/li/li7312/li7312-2.jpg
  10. ↑ April 2, 1995 OAG North American Edition Desktop Guide, St. Lucia flight schedules
  11. ↑ April 7, 1996 OAG Pocket Flight Guide, St. Lucia, Miami and New York JFK flight schedules
  12. ↑ "Destinations". Air Antilles. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  13. ↑ "Caribbean Airlines | Book flights, cheap tickets & low fares".
  14. ↑ "Caribbean Airlines | Book flights, cheap tickets & low fares".
  15. ↑ "Destinations". Caribbean Airlines. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  16. ↑ "Flight Schedules". InterCaribbean Airways. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  17. ↑ "interCaribbean Adds Aircraft and Expands Flights in Barbados, Guyana and Windward Islands". www.intercaribbean.com.
  18. ↑ "Regional airline to cease operations in less than three weeks; workers to await pay". 5 January 2024.
  19. ↑ "Schedule". LIAT Airlines. Archived from the original on 2020-12-30. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  20. ↑ "Services". Air Cargo Carriers. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  21. ↑ "Fleets and Bases". Ameriflight. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  22. ↑ "Locations". DHL Express. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  23. ↑ "Locations". Mountain Air Cargo. Archived from the original on 2020-04-25. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  24. ↑ "George Charles Oustation." Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority Retrieved on 23 December 2012.
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