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Princess Juliana International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) serves the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean, after Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. In 2005, the airport handled 1,663,226 passengers. The airport serves as a hub for Windward Islands Airways and is the major gateway for the smaller Leeward Islands, including Anguilla, Saba, St. Barthélemy and St. Eustatius. It is named after Juliana of the Netherlands, who was crown princess when the airport opened. There is also an airport on the French side of the island near Marigot, called Grand Case Airport or L’Espérance Airport.

History
The airport was started as a military airstrip in 1942. It was converted to a civilian airport in 1943. In 1964 the airport was remodeled and relocated, with a new terminal building and control tower. The facilities were upgraded in 1985 and 2001.

Runway and facilities
The airport is famous for its short runway — at only 2,433 metres (7,980 ft), it is barely long enough for heavy jets to land. Therefore, incoming airplanes approaching the island on short final for Runway 9 have to fly extremely low, passing only 10-20 meters (30-60 ft.) over relaxing tourists on Maho Beach. Pictures of low flying aircraft were published in several news magazines worldwide in early 2000 and looked so unreal that some were even disputed as fakes. The thrilling approaches and ease of access for shooting spectacular images made the airport one of the world’s favorite places among planespotters. To meet international and local regulations a 150 meter safety extension was required.

In early 2007, KLM stopped its weekly Boeing 747 flight to Princess Juliana, (replaced by a McDonnell Douglas MD-11), leaving the Paris-Orly Airport based French carrier Corsairfly to be the only airline to operate the 747 there. They operate once a week in low season (April through October) and twice a week in high season (November through March)^[11]. As of 2009, KLM is again flying its 747-400s back into the island.

Despite the difficulties in approach, there have been no records of major incidents at the airport, though ALM Flight 980 crashed 30 miles from St. Croix after several unsuccessful landing attempts at Saint Maarten-Juliana Airport.Towards the end of 2008, runway 09/27 has changed and now has a new QFU: 10/28.