Hewanorra International Airport

History

Hewanorra International Airport was originally named Beane Army Airfield and was used as a military airfield by the United States Army Air Forces' Sixth Air Force during World War II. Beane Field was activated in early 1941 with a mission to defend Saint Lucia against an enemy attack.

The former base was then refurbished and converted into a commercial airport. There is a disused northeast/southwest runway north of the main east–west runway that was part of the military airfield. It is in poor condition, along with a few dispersals.

The name of the airport is an Amerindian word meaning "[land of the] iguana", referring to what the Island Caribs called Saint Lucia.

Expansion

Officials have proposed a new terminal building at Hewanorra to accommodate Saint Lucia's growing tourism industry. It is envisaged that the new terminal would be more than twice as large as the current facility, equipped with 6 to 8 jet bridges and a proposed 13 parking positions, including one stand capable of handling the Airbus A380. Currently, the airport has seven parking positions: two for wide-body aircraft, two behind those, and three for medium-sized aircraft such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 757.

Under a master plan, the runway will also be widened. At 2,745 metres (9,000 ft), Hewanorra's runway is already long enough to handle most commercial aircraft. However, its 45.72-metre (150.0 ft) width is insufficient to handle the Airbus A380, which requires 60.96 m (200.0 ft) from shoulder to shoulder and a length of at least 3,050 m (10,000 ft). There are also plans to exploit a disused concrete runway to the north of the airport, which was built by the American military during World War II and could be recommissioned as a taxiway for cargo operations and access to hangars. One proposal is to move cargo operations to the north side of the airport, putting in all the requisite infrastructure as well as two stands for aircraft up to Boeing 747 freighter size.

Runway and taxiways

The airport uses a single east–west runway, connected by two taxiways at its midsection, with turning bays at the end for back-tracking. As a result of the trade winds that blow northeast across Saint Lucia, all aircraft usually arrive and depart in an easterly direction. This results in a typical flight path for arriving aircraft along the west coast of Saint Lucia, while departing flights usually fly along the east coast of the island. On relatively rare occasions, weather disturbances such as passing hurricanes or tropical systems may force planes to take off or land in a westerly direction.

The airport is equipped with RNAV, VOR/DME, and NDB approaches.

Other facilities

The airport houses the Hewanorra Outstation of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority.

Accidents and incidents

Quebecair flight 714, a charter flight from Toronto, crashed on its approach to Hewanorra International Airport on 19 February 1979. Wind shear caused the aircraft to halt its descent. The copilot, who was flying at the time, retarded the throttles, but the aircraft had just passed the wind shear zone, and the nose slammed into the runway and bounced twice, destroying the nose landing gear. There were no fatalities and only minor injuries. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and was written off.