Curaçao International Airport

Curaçao International Airport
Hato International Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Curaçao Airport Holding
Operator Curaçao Airport Partners
Serves Curaçao
Location Willemstad, Curaçao
Hub for
Elevation AMSL 29 ft / 9 m
Coordinates 12°11′20″N 068°57′35″W / 12.18889°N 68.95972°W / 12.18889; -68.95972Coordinates: 12°11′20″N 068°57′35″W / 12.18889°N 68.95972°W / 12.18889; -68.95972
Website curacao-airport.com
Map
CUR
Location in Curaçao
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
11/29 3,410 11,188 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 1,700,000 to 2,000,000
Freight (tonnes) 12,023
Movements 40,483
Source: DAFIF,[1] Zurich Airport[2]

Curaçao International Airport (IATA: CUR, ICAO: TNCC), also known as Hato International Airport (formerly Dr. Albert Plesman International Airport), is the airport of Willemstad, Curaçao. It has services to the Caribbean region, South America, North America and Europe. Hato Airport is located on the north coast of Curaçao, 12 kilometres from Willemstad, which is a fairly large facility, with the third longest commercial runway in the Caribbean region after Rafael Hernández Airport in Puerto Rico and Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe. The airport serves as a main base for Insel Air and Divi Divi Air. It used to serve as a main base for ALM, KLM, DCA and DAE.

History

The original tower

The airport was initially called Hato Airport, namesake to the nearby town of Hato. On Tuesday, 5 January 1954, the airport was renamed Dr. Albert Plesman airport. Plesman, director of the Royal Dutch Airlines for the Netherlands and Colonies, had died a few days earlier. Often it was spoken of Aeropuerto Plesman or Plesman Airport, unofficially also the name Hato remained in use till this day. Nowadays the official name is: Curaçao International Airport.

'It will be unnecessary to set out in detail, of which it is of paramount importance, that the Dutch aviation industry gets a firm footing in the vicinity of the Caribbean sea, where air traffic is now becoming more and more a factor of economic significance.' - Albert Plesman With above argument in March 1934 Albert Plesman, director of KLM, hoped to receive financial support from the Comité Vliegtocht Nederland-Indië. It was a new plan to head to the West. In the 1920s it started to interest itself in the Caribbean region. Curaçao was developing itself in a beneficial way due to the presence of the oil refinery and a growing number of people were starting to choose the region with the purpose of vacationing. Aviation companies were paying close attention to these developments and were researching if it was possible to create a connection between the United States, Curaçao and South America. The West Indische Gouvernement constructed a runway at the Hato plantation in Curaçao,

The old departure terminal

On 22 December 1934 the Snip plane arrived in Curaçao after an 8th day during trip with the route Amsterdam-Marseille-Alicante-Casablanca-Porto Praia-Paramaribo-La Guaria-Curaçao.

Hato was one of the most important and busiest airports in the Caribbean during the Second World War. The airfield was used by the US Air Force for patrols against submarines.

During the 1960s the 'Bestuurscollege' commissioned Netherlands Airport Consultants B.V. (NACO) to design a Master plan for the airport. This assignment was in connection with the expected arrival of the Boeing 747. The 'Jumbo' first flew on 9 February 1969.

Curaçao International Airport N.V. (Curinta) was founded in 1977 and operated the Airport until 2013. Its predecessor was the 'Luchthavenbedrijf', which was a department of the Government of Curaçao.

World War II

During World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces Sixth Air Force conducting antisubmarine patrols. Flying units using the airfield were:

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Canada Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson (begins 28 October 2018)[3]
Air Canada Rouge Toronto–Pearson (ends 25 October 2018)
Seasonal: Montréal–Trudeau
Air Century Santo Domingo–La Isabela
Albatros Airlines Las Piedras
American Airlines Charlotte, Miami
Aruba Airlines Aruba, Bonaire
Avianca Bogotá
Avior Airlines Caracas
Condor Seasonal: Frankfurt (begins 6 November 2018)
Copa Airlines Panama City
Corendon AirlinesSeasonal Charter: São Paulo-Guarulhos (begins December 2018)[4]
Divi Divi Air Aruba, Bonaire
Fly All Ways Santo Domingo–Las Americas, Paramaribo
Insel Air Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten1, Paramaribo1
JetBlue Airways New York–JFK
KLM Amsterdam2
LASER Airlines Caracas
Sky High Aviation Services Santo Domingo–Las Americas
Sunrise Airways Port-au-Prince, Santo Domingo–Las Americas
Sunwing Airlines Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
Surinam Airways Paramaribo, Port of Spain
TUI fly Belgium Brussels3
TUI fly Netherlands Amsterdam4
WestJet Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
Winair Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten
Notes
  • ^1 Insel Air's flights to Paramaribo and Sint Maarten are operated by Conviasa.
  • ^2 KLM's flights operate from Amsterdam to Curaçao via Sint Maarten on selected days. However, the airline does not have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Sint Maarten and Curaçao. The flight continues on from Curaçao to Amsterdam directly.
  • ^3 TUI fly Belgium's flights will operate from Brussels to Curaçao via Santo Domingo. However, the airline does not have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Santo Domingo and Curaçao. The flight continues on from Curaçao to Brussels directly.
  • ^4 TUI fly Netherlands's flights operate between Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao on selected days. However, the airline does not have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
AmeriflightAguadilla, Aruba, San Juan
Amerijet InternationalAruba, Miami, Maracaibo
AerosucreBogotá
Liñeas Aereas Suramericanas Bogota
Vensecar InternacionalAruba, Caracas, Panama City, Santo Domingo-Las Américas

Coast Guard Air Station Hato

Located at the west side of Hato Airport there are hangars for the two Bombardier Dash 8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft and two AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters of the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard. This was until 2007 a naval airbase of the Royal Netherlands Navy who operated the base for 55 years. With a wide variety of aircraft in the past years Fireflies, Avengers, Trackers, Neptunes, Fokker F-27's, P-3C Orions, Fokker F-60's and several helicopters. After the political decision to sell all Orions the airbase wasn't needed anymore.

The west end of the airport is a USAF Forward Operating Base (FOB). The base hosts AWACS and transport aircraft. Until 1999 the USAF operated a small fleet of F-16 fighters from the FOB.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. ↑ Airport information for TNCC at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  2. ↑ Curaçao factsheet Archived 11 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine.. Zurich Airport.
  3. ↑ "Air Canada W18 Sun Destinations service changes as of 18JUN18". routesonline.com. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  4. ↑ https://www.panrotas.com.br/aviacao/novas-rotas/2018/10/curaca-tera-voo-direto-de-sao-paulo-a-partir-de-dezembro_159382.html
  • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
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