Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"SJU" redirects here. For other uses, see SJU (disambiguation).

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
Image:Luis Muñoz Marín Airport overview.jpg
IATA: SJU - ICAO: TJSJ
Summary <tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Airport type</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Public</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Operator</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">Puerto Rico Ports Authority</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" align="left" valign="top">Serves</th><td colspan="2" valign="top">San Juan, Puerto Rico</td></tr>
Elevation AMSL		9 ft (2.7 m)
Coordinates		18°26′21.9″N, 66°00′06.6″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
8/26	10,002	3,049	Asphalt
10/28	8,016	2,443	Concrete

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (IATA: SJU, ICAO: TJSJ) is a public airport located in Carolina, 3 miles (5 km) southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airport is owned and managed by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority.

It is the island's main international gateway, and its main connection to the mainland United States. Domestic flights fly between Carolina and various local points of interest, including Aguadilla, Culebra, Mayagüez, Ponce and Vieques. The airport offers rapid access to San Juan, the capital of the island.

The airport serves as the Caribbean hub for American Airlines and American Eagle.

As of 2006, the airport has been receiving major upgrades, including a new Concourse (Concourse A), reconstruction of runway 10-28, press conference rooms, an American Airlines Admirals Club located in Concourse C, and new fast food franchises along it's corridors, like Wendy’s, McDonalds, Subway and Taco Maker, just to mention a few.

Also, the airport has a Hotel, a barber's shop, beauty saloons, souvenir kiosks, duty free shops, a Banco Popular de Puerto Rico branch and many ATMs all over the facility.

1 History
- 1.1 Incidents and accidents
2 Terminals and airlines
- 2.1 Main Terminal
- 2.2 American Airlines Terminal (former Terminal D)
  - 2.2.1 Concourse D
  - 2.2.2 Concourse E
3 Military/Cargo Ramps
- 3.1 Military Ramp
- 3.2 Cargo Ramps (Three Ramps)
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

Image:PR2 120.jpg

Image:PR2 127.jpg

Located in the area known as Isla Verde, the airport was, for many decades, known as Isla Verde International Airport, until 1985, when then Governor Rafael Hernández Colón decided to name it after Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor.

The airport served as a Caribbean hub for Pan Am, Trans Caribbean Airways, Eastern Air Lines, and a short lived "focus city" for TWA. It was also the hub of Puerto Rico's international airline, Prinair, from the airline's start in 1966 to 1984, when Prinair went bankrupt. In 1986, American Airlines (along with American Eagle) established a hub in the airport to compete with Eastern Air Lines. In the past, the airport has been served by Mexicana, Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Air Jamaica, Viasa, Aerolineas Argentinas, Virgin Atlantic, Dominicana De Aviacion and many other important airlines.

Various celebrities have been welcomed to Puerto Rico at this airport, including Menudo in 1981, after the group came back from touring Mexico; the boxer Félix Trinidad in 1999, after he defeated Oscar de la Hoya, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain in 1987, and Pope John Paul II in 1984. Miss Universe 1993, Dayanara Torres , held a press conference at the airport after her arrival on May of that year.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

On February 15, 1970, a Dominicana de Aviacion DC-9 that was flying to Isla Verde crashed shortly after takeoff from Las Americas International Airport in Punta Caucedo, Dominican Republic, near Santo Domingo, killing everyone on board, including Puerto Rico's national women's volleyball team and Dominican Carlos Cruz, a former world boxing champion who was going to San Juan for a rematch with Carlos Ortiz. See: Dominicana DC-9 air disaster
On June 24, 1972, Prinair Flight 191, which took off from Isla Verde Airport, crashed while attempting to land at Mercedita Airport in Ponce.
On December 31 of that same year, baseball star Roberto Clemente and his companions died when their DC-3 crashed soon after takeoff from Isla Verde during a relief flight bound for Nicaragua. Neither the bodies of the victims nor the plane's wreckage were ever found.
In 1983, a hijacked Alitalia DC-10 landed at this airport, under orders by the hijacker.
In 1985, an American Airlines DC-10 taking off from Muñoz Marín to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas overran the runway and nosedived into a nearby lake. Everybody avoided injury.
24 September 1998 - Trans-Florida Airlines Convair 240-13 (N91237) when taking off from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport had an engine problem. It attempted to return to the airport, but lost altitude and was force landed in a salt water lagoon some 2 miles short of the runway. The aircraft was written off, but the two crew and one passenger were uninjured. <ref>Aviation Safety Network retrieved 27 November 2006</ref>
On May 9, 2004 an American Eagle Super ATR, flight 5401, crash-landed when one of the tires popped. Seventeen people were injured, but no one died.

[edit] Terminals and airlines

Image:SJU Diagram.JPG

The Luis Muñoz Marín Airport has two terminals: the Main Terminal and the American Airlines Terminal. Previously, the airport had a different layout which called the different concourses as Terminals B, C and D, but the new signing around the airport has changed this.

The Main Terminal houses Concourse B and Concourse C, while the American Airlines Terminal houses Concourse D and Concourse E. All airlines except American Airlines and American Eagle check in the Main Terminal. American Airlines and American Eagle check in the American Airlines Terminal.

[edit] Main Terminal

[edit] Concourse A

Image:Trip 057.jpg

Under construction. Completion scheduled for late 2007 or early 2008.

[edit] Concourse B (former Terminal B)

Air Canada Gate 34 (Montréal, Toronto-Pearson)
Air Culebra Gate 31x
Air Santo Domingo Gate 31x
Air Sunshine Gate 31x
Cape Air Gate 31A (Mayagüez, Ponce, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, Vieques)
Caribbean Sun Gate 31B (Antigua, Dominica, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, St. Vincent, Santo Domingo, Tortola)
Delta Air Lines Gates 35, 39 - 41 (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, New York-JFK, Orlando)
Isla Nena Air Service Gate 31x
LIAT (St. Maarten) Gate 31x
Northwest Airlines Gates 32 - 33 (Detroit, Memphis)
San Juan Aviation Gate 31x
United Airlines Gate 34 (Chicago-O'Hare)
- Ted operated by United Airlines (Chicago-O'Hare, Washington-Dulles)
Tradewind aviation / Rome International Gate 32 (St. Barth's)
US Airways Gates 36 - 38 (Boston, Charlotte, New York-LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington-Dulles [seasonal])
Vieques Air Link (Vieques) Gate 31x

[edit] Concourse C (former Terminal C)

Continental Airlines Gates 28 - 29 (Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
Copa Airlines Gate 20 (Guatemala City, Panama City, San José)
Iberia Airlines Gate 27 (Madrid)
JetBlue Airways Gate 22 (Boston [starts December 13, 2006], New York-JFK, Orlando)
Spirit Airlines Gates 23, 25 (Fort Lauderdale, Orlando)
Air charters -- Gates 22, 24 - 26, 28

[edit] American Airlines Terminal (former Terminal D)

Image:PR2 132.jpg

[edit] Concourse D

American Airlines Gates 11 - 12, 14 - 19 (Antigua, Aruba, Baltimore/Washington, Boston, Caracas, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK, Newark, Orlando, Philadelphia, Santo Domingo, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Tampa, Washington-Dulles)

[edit] Concourse E

American Airlines Gates 3 - 9 (see above)
- American Eagle/Executive Air Gates 1A - 1F, 2 (Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Beef Island, Bonaire, Bridgetown, Curacao, Dominica, Fort-de-France, Grenada, La Romana, Nevis, Pointe-a-Pitre, Port of Spain, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Santiago, Santo Domingo, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas)