Canefield Airport is an airport on the west coast of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

island nation An island country, island state, or island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

. It is north of

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole French, Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George Parish, Dominica, Saint George Pa ...

, the capital. It is one of only two airports in the island nation of Dominica, the other being

Douglas–Charles Airport Douglas–Charles Airport , formerly known as Melville Hall Airport, is an airport located on the northeast coast of Dominica, northwest of Marigot. It is about one hour away from the second largest city Portsmouth. It is one of only two airpo ...

History

Plans for an airport at Canefield were first discussed in the mid-1970s. Construction began in early 1979 with British funding, shortly after Dominica's independence. The airport was officially opened in 1981, and was preferred over Melville Hall (a two-hour drive from the national capital of

at the time).

Crosswind A crosswind is any wind that has a perpendicular component to the line or direction of travel. This affects the aerodynamics of many forms of transport. Moving non- parallel to the wind direction creates a crosswind component on the object and t ...

s, "occasional landing difficulties", and the facility's small size plagued its operation from the onset despite being closer to Roseau.

Runways and taxiways

It has one

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

01/19, which measures . Runway 01 has a 500-foot

displaced threshold A displaced threshold or DTHR is a runway threshold located at a point other than the physical beginning or end of the runway. The portion of the runway behind a displaced threshold may be used for takeoff in either direction and landings from t ...

. There is mountainous terrain to the east, and rising terrain north and south, with the

Caribbean sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

to the west. Commercial operators require proficiency checks for their crews to be able to operate at the airport.

Traffic

Most of these flights operate with

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

and

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

aircraft such as the

DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking Ai ...

Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air is a line of American utility aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The King Air line comprises a number of twin-turboprop models that have been divided into two families. The Model 90 and 100 series developed in the 1960s ...

, Freighters, and private aircraft. Though not common, the airport has handled light business jets such as the

Cessna Citation Mustang The Cessna Citation Mustang is a very light jet that was built by Cessna. Launched at the 2002 National Business Aviation Association, NBAA convention, the Model 510 first flew on April 23, 2005. It received its FAA type certification on Septe ...

, and the

Cessna Citation II The Cessna Citation II models are light corporate jets built by Cessna as part of the Citation family. Stretched from the Citation I, the Model 550 was announced in September 1976, first flew on January 31, 1977, and was certified in March 1978 ...

on occasions. One of the largest aircraft to ever land at the airport was a

Samaritan's Purse Samaritan's Purse is an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of its Christian missionary work. The organization's president is Franklin Graham, son of Christian evangelis ...

operated

Basler BT-67 The Basler BT-67 is a utility aircraft produced by Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is a remanufactured and modified Douglas C-47 Skytrain / Douglas DC-3; the modifications are designed to significantly extend the DC-3's servic ...

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate passenger and chartered flights to the Canefield Airport: *Friday, October 25, 2024, a Press Release statement by

SVG Air SVG AIR is an airline company located at the Argyle International Airport, Argyle, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines that operates both scheduled and charter flight services within the Eastern Caribbean islands as far north as Jamaica and as far ...

was issued announcing a new, non-stop flight from the Canefield Airport in

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

St. Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

Castries Castries () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean. The urban area has a population of approximately 20,000, while the eponymous Castries Quarter, district has a population of just under ...

, and St. Vincent–Argyle in

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

(with a one-stop in

) that begins November 24, 2024. This is the first time in years that the airport has had a

scheduled airline A schedule (, ) or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order in which such things ...

. Flights will be operated with the

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

aircraft. *Coming soon, are new flights that will connect

Canefield Airport to

Pointe-à-Pitre Pointe-à-Pitre (; , , or simply , ) is the second most populous commune of Guadeloupe (after Les Abymes). Guadeloupe is an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in the Lesser Antilles, of which it is a ''Subprefectu ...

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. These flights will be operated by ir Inter Ilesby t. Barth Executiveusing

Tecnam P2012 Traveller The Tecnam P2012 Traveller is a twin-engine, high-wing utility aircraft designed and manufactured by the Italian company Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam, based in Capua, Italy, near Naples. Certified under EASA CS-23 and FAA FAR Part 23, t ...

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can takeoff/land on short runways. Many STOL-designed aircraft can operate on airstrips with harsh conditions (such as high altitude or ice). STOL aircraft, including tho ...

aircraft.

Cargo

Temperature Record

On 3 October 2015, the weather station at Canefield Airport recorded a temperature of . This is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Dominica.

Accidents and incidents

Aircraft Accident - Flight Design CTSW - N7670

*On Tuesday, March 1, 2011, a Rockwell Shrike Commander aircraft right main gear blew and the aircraft veered off the runway to the right. There were no injuries and this mishap is still unexplained. *On Thursday, February 16, 2012, a

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplanes, Second Edition'', page 108. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992. All seats are easily removable so ...

made an emergency landing. It landed without further incident. *On Thursday, February 27, 2014, a

Cessna 404 The Cessna 404 Titan is an American twin-engined, light aircraft built by Cessna, Cessna Aircraft. It was the company's largest twin piston-engined aircraft at the time of its development in the 1970s. Its US military designation is C-28, and ...

aircraft ran off the runway, suffered damage to the left wing. *On Sunday, February 8, 2015, a private

aircraft coming from Venezuela ran off the runway, suffered extensive damage. *On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, a Rockwell Shrike Commander aircraft upon landing suffered nose gear failure. * On Wednesday, July 3, 2024, a light aircraft

Flight Design CT The Flight Design CT series is a family of high-wing, tricycle undercarriage, two seat, ultralight and light-sport aircraft produced by Flight Design (Flightdesign Vertrieb) of Germany. The family includes the original CT and the CT2K, CTSW, ...

(CTSW) 7670 was involved in an accident that resulted in substantial damage to the airframe. While on departure, the aircraft encountered severe wind gusts; flipping the aircraft. There were reports of minor injuries to the occupants onboard.

References

External links

* {{authority control Airports in Dominica Airports established in 1979 1979 establishments in North America