Queen Beatrix International Airport ( nl, Internationale luchthaven Koningin Beatrix; pap, Aeropuerto Internacional Reina Beatrix), colloquially known as Aruba Airport , is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer r ...

located in Oranjestad,

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of P ...

. It has flight services to the United States, several countries in the Caribbean, the northern coastal countries of South America, Canada, as well as some parts of Europe, notably the Netherlands. It is named after Beatrix of the Netherlands, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.

Overview

The airport offers United States border preclearance facilities. A terminal for private aircraft opened in 2007. The airport used to serve as the hub for bankrupt airline

Air Aruba Air Aruba was the main air carrier from the island of Aruba. It was founded in 1986 and it declared bankruptcy in 2000. It was headquartered in the Brown Invest Building in Oranjestad, Aruba. History Air Aruba began in September 1986 as a gro ...

, which was for many years an international airline. Before Aruba's separation from the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

in 1986 it was also one of three hubs for

ALM Antillean Airlines ALM Antillean Airlines ( nl, Antilliaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij) was the main airline of the Netherlands Antilles between its foundation in 1964 and its shut-down in 2001, operating out of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. History ALM Antillea ...

as well as a home base for

Tiara Air Tiara Air N.V., operating as Tiara Air Aruba, was an airline headquartered and Oranjestad, Aruba in the Dutch Caribbean. The airline, which began operations in 2006, operated scheduled flights to Bonaire, Colombia, Curacao, the United States an ...

until 2016. Since 2013 the airport is home to

Aruba Airlines Aruba Airlines (legally ''Arubaanse Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'') is the flag carrier and the sole airline of Aruba. The airline, founded in 2006, providing scheduled and charter air transport for passengers to 13 destinations. Aruba Airlines' ...

, a local airline. The airline has three

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fam ...

aircraft and two

Bombardier CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) ...

. The main focus of Aruba Airlines is connecting the region through its hub.

History

In 1934, Manuel Viana launched a weekly mail and passenger service between Aruba and Curacao, with A.J. Viccellio piloting Loening C-2H Air Yacht PJ-ZAA from a mud-flat runway. Commercial services were taken over by

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

from 24 December 1934. Later they were transferred to a graded runway known as the KLM field. During World War II, the airport was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Sixth Air Force Sixth is the ordinal form of the number six. * The Sixth Amendment, to the U.S. Constitution * A keg of beer, equal to 5 U.S. gallons or barrel * The fraction Music * Sixth interval (music)s: ** major sixth, a musical interval ** minor s ...

defending Caribbean shipping and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

against German submarines. The airfield was renamed Dakota Field; the terminal facilities became Dakota Airport. Flying units assigned to the airfield were: *

59th Bombardment Squadron The 59th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was first activated in Panama in 1941 during the expansion of the United States Army Air Corps before World War II. Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor the squa ...

( 9th Bombardment Group) 14 January-24 September 1942 (A-20 Havoc) *

12th Bombardment Squadron 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

(

25th Bombardment Group Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

) 10 October 1942 – 23 November 1943 (B-18 Bolo) *

22d Fighter Squadron The 22nd Fighter Squadron, sometimes written as 22d Fighter Squadron, (22 FS) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 52nd Operations Group and stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. Originally constitut ...

( 36th Fighter Group) 2 September 1942 – April 1943 (P-40 Warhawk) *

32d Fighter Squadron The ROMP is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) microprocessor designed by IBM in the late 1970s. It is also known as the Research OPD Miniprocessor (after the two IBM divisions that collaborated on its inception, IBM Research and the O ...

(

Antilles Air Command The Antilles Air Command is a disbanded United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Sixth Air Force, based at Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico, where it was inactivated on 25 August 1946. Engaged in antisubmarine operations, 1941� ...

) 9 March 1943 – March 1944 (P-40 Warhawk) On 22 October 1955, the airport was named after Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands during a royal visit. It was renamed in 1980 after her accession to the throne. On 3 March 2021,

American Airlines American Airlines is a major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the largest airline in the world when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and revenue passeng ...

celebrated its 50 years flying to and from Aruba.

Airlines and destinations

Sign at Aruba Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Reina Beatrix)

Passenger

;Notes *

's flights operate to and from Bonaire on selected days. * TUI fly Belgium's flights operate from Brussels to Aruba via Santo Domingo. However, the airline does not have cabotage rights to transport passengers solely between Aruba and Santo Domingo. *

TUI Airlines Netherlands TUI fly Netherlands, legally incorporated as ''TUI Airlines Netherlands'' (formerly branded as ''Arkefly'' and ''Arke''), is a Dutch charter airline headquartered in Schiphol-Rijk on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, ...

's flights operate between Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao on selected days. However, the airline does not have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. * Winair's flights operate between Aruba and Sint Maarten via Curacao on selected days.

Cargo

Statistics

Accidents and incidents

*On January 13, 2010, an

Arkefly TUI fly Netherlands, legally incorporated as ''TUI Airlines Netherlands'' (formerly branded as ''Arkefly'' and ''Arke''), is a Dutch charter airline headquartered in Schiphol-Rijk on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermee ...

Boeing 767-300 (registration PH-AHQ), operating Flight 361 from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Queen Beatrix International Airport, declared an emergency after a man claimed to have a bomb on board. There ensued a struggle with the flight crew, and the aircraft made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland. Gardaí stormed the plane and arrested the man; he was taken to Shannon Garda station. A passenger who had recently had surgery collapsed in the terminal while waiting for the continuation of the flight, and had to be taken to a local hospital. The replacement aircraft, PH-AHY, also a Boeing 767-300, continued the flight to Aruba.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Official Website
* * {{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Airports in Aruba Airports with United States border preclearance Airports established in 1934 Oranjestad, Aruba 1934 establishments in Aruba