Grand Case-Espérance Airport

L'Espérance Airport[5][6] (IATA: SFG[2], ICAO: TFFG[1]), also known as Grand Case Airport (French: Aérodrome de Grand-Case Espérance), is a public use airport located in Grand Case, on the French side (Saint Martin) of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. The airport is mainly used for flights by regional passenger aircraft (ATR) flying to Guadeloupe and Saint Barth, as well as used by private aircraft. It is the second and smaller airport of Saint Maarten, after Princess Juliana.

Not to be confused with Esperance Airport.
L'Espérance Airport
Grand Case Airport

Aéroport de Grand-Case l'Espérance
Passengers deboard an Air Caraïbes ATR 72 at L'Espérance Airport (2015)
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerCollectivité de Saint Martin
OperatorEDEIS
ServesSaint-Martin
LocationGrand-Case
Elevation AMSL20 ft / 6 m
Coordinates18°06′02″N 063°02′56″W
Websitesaintmartin-airport.com
Map
TFFG
Location in Saint-Martin
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
12/30 1,200 3,937 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers192,285
Sources: French AIP,[1] IATA,[2] Aeroport.fr[3] SkyVector[4]

Grand Case airport is managed by EDEIS, a major player in airport operations and engineering in France where it manages 18 airports.

In 2017, the renovation of the airport was completed that included a modernized terminal building, fire station upgrade, extended parking apron, and new control tower. In 2018 a new hangar for line maintenance purposes was completed.

The airport targets for more than 200,000 passengers movements a year.

Tower

The control-tower of PJIA Air Traffic Control at Princess Juliana Airport on the Dutch side of St.Maarten has two radar systems at their disposal with a range of 50 nautical miles (93 km; 58 mi) and 250 NM (460 km; 290 mi). PJIA air traffic control manages 4,000 sq nmi (14,000 km2; 5,300 sq mi) of airspace around the airport. Besides providing approach, tower and ground control at PJIA, Juliana air traffic services also provides approach control for Grand Case airport.

Runway and facilities

Incoming aircraft approach the island on short final for runway 12 over the bay of Grand-Case, with a corresponding view. When wind direction changes, which is common, incoming airplanes approach the island on short final for runway 30, in the opposite direction.

Larger aircraft such as the ATR 72-500 powerback after lining up on the runway for departure, due to the short runway.

The regional Espérance Airport at Grand Case allows the quickest transfers for commercial inter-island aircraft and for private aircraft. Operators are required to send a flight request to EDEIS FBO SERVICE.

Airlines and destinations

The following commercial airlines provide scheduled passenger service:[5]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Antilles Pointe-à-Pitre
Air Caraïbes Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre
St Barth Commuter Saint Barthélemy
Charter: Dominica-Canefield
Trans Anguilla Airways Charter: Anguilla

Joint border control with the Kingdom of the Netherlands

In 1994, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France signed the Franco-Dutch treaty on Saint Martin border controls, which allows for joint Franco-Dutch border controls on so-called "risk flights". After some delay, the treaty was ratified in November 2006 in the Netherlands, and subsequently entered into force on 1 August 2007. Though the treaty is now in force, its provisions are not yet implemented as the working group specified in the treaty is not yet installed.

References
  1. TFFG – Saint Martin Grand Case. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 28 January 2021.
  2. "Airline and Airport Code Search". IATA. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  3. "Résultats d'activité des aéroports français 2018" (PDF). aeroport.fr. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  4. "TFFG: Grand Case Airport". SkyVector. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. St-Martin.org (official tourism website) - L'Espérance Airport, Grand Case Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
  6. StBarthCommuter.com - L'Espérance Airport, Grand Case (SFG)
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