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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.

George F. L. Charles Airport Aéroport George F. L. Charles
IATA: SLU ICAO: TLPC WMO: 78947
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Saint Lucia
Operator	Saint Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority
Serves	Castries, Saint Lucia
Location	Vigie, Castries
Opened	1941; 81 years ago (1941)
Hub for	Wiggins Airways[1]
Time zone	AST (UTC−04:00)
Elevation AMSL	22 ft / 7 m
Coordinates	14°01′13″N 060°59′35″W
Website	http://www.stlucia-airport.com/
Map
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)
Passengers 195,859 Passenger change 15–16 1.2% Aircraft movements 17,569 Movements change 15–16 2.51%
Source: DAFIF[2] 2012 SLASPA Statistics

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.

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]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Refs
Air Antilles	Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, Fort-de-France	[12]
Air Sunshine	St. Croix, St. Kitts
Caribbean Airlines	Port of Spain	[13]
InterCaribbean Airways	Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles	[14]
LIAT	Antigua, Barbados, Dominica–Douglas-Charles, St. Vincent–Argyle	[15]

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations	Refs
Air Cargo Carriers	Dominica–Douglas-Charles, Saint Kitts, Saint Vincent	[16]
Ameriflight	Aguadilla, San Juan	[17]
DHL Aviation	Fort-de-France, Grenada, Saint Vincent	[18]
FedEx Feeder	Fort-de-France, Grenada, Saint Vincent	[19]

Other facilities

The airport houses the George Charles Outstation of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority,[20] General Aviation Services, and the Island Flyers Club.

Navigation

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.

References

На других языках

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[de] George F. L. Charles Airport

Der George F. L. Charles Airport, bis 1997 bezeichnet als Castries-Vigie Airport, ist ein Flughafen auf der Karibik-Insel St. Lucia. Er befindet sich nördlich der Hauptstadt Castries im Nordwesten der Insel. Neben dem George F. L. Charles Airport gibt es auf St. Lucia noch den größeren Hewanorra International Airport, der am südlichen Ende der Insel liegt.

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- [en] George F. L. Charles Airport

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[es] Aeropuerto George F. L. Charles

El Aeropuerto George F. L. Charles (código IATA: SLU, código OACI: TLPC) está ubicado en Castries, capital de Santa Lucía. Originalmente era llamado Aeropuerto Vigie pero desde el 4 de agosto de 1997 cambió de nombre al actual en honor a George Frederick Lawrence Charles, quien fuese el primer ministro de Educación y Asuntos Sociales del país. Dado que el país tiene dos aeropuertos, el George F. L. Charles se especializa en los vuelos regionales mientras que al sur, el Hewanorra se encarga de los vuelos transatlánticos o continentales.

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[fr] Aéroport George F. L. Charles de Sainte-Lucie

L'aéroport George F. L. Charles (anciennement aéroport de Vigie) (code IATA : SLU • code OACI : TLPC) est le plus petit des deux aéroports à Sainte-Lucie, l'autre étant l'Aéroport international d'Hewanorra. Il est situé à 2 km au nord de Castries, la capitale. Cet aéroport est géré par l'Air and Ports Authority de Sainte-Lucie (SLASPA). Sa piste longe une plage vierge, la Plage de Vigie, qui est une attraction touristique populaire.

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[ru] Международный аэропорт имени Джорджа Чарльза

Международный аэропорт имени Джорджа Чарльза (англ. George F. L. Charles Airport), также известный как Аэропорт Виджи (англ. Vigie Airport) (ИАТА: SLU, ИКАО: TLPC) — международный аэропорт, расположенный в 2 км к северу от столицы Сент-Люсии, города Кастри. Второй по размеру аэропорт страны после Международного аэропорта Хеванорра. Аэропорт находится в ведении Управления воздушных и морских портов Сент-Люсии (SLASPA). На другой стороне залива от аэропорта находится песчаный пляж Виги-Бич, который является популярной туристической достопримечательностью.

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