Departure
93%
vs 95% ▼ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
JAGS McCartney International Airport serves Grand Turk, the historic capital island of the Turks and Caicos, with a single hard-surfaced runway capable of handling everything from island-hopping turboprops to the occasional Boeing 757 or Airbus A321. Named for the territory's first Chief Minister, the field grew out of a 1950s United States Air Force missile-tracking station and remains the gateway for domestic services linking Grand Turk to Providenciales, South Caicos and Salt Cay.
JAGS McCartney International Airport lies just south of Cockburn Town on Grand Turk Island, the capital island of the Turks and Caicos. Operated by the Turks and Caicos Airports Authority's Civil Aviation Department, it is the territory's second-largest airport after Providenciales International. Although classified as international, it functions mainly as a domestic hub, with occasional wide-body and charter traffic during the cruise season, making it an interesting stop for sim pilots wanting a short-runway Caribbean island approach with plenty of open water on the circuit.
The airport sits on Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, about a mile south of Cockburn Town. It is roughly 1.6 kilometres from the town centre and close to the Grand Turk Cruise Center on the island's western shore.
The airport has a single hard-surfaced, lit runway aligned 12/30. The database records a length of 6,418 ft for runway 30 and 5,567 ft for runway 12, reflecting the differing declared distances published for each direction. There is no ILS.
Grand Turk's approach service, Provo Approach, operates on 126 MHz, ground movements are handled on 121.9 MHz, and the tower, McCartney Tower, works on 118.6 MHz.
The airport lies about a mile south of Cockburn Town and close to the Grand Turk Cruise Center, both useful visual references when approaching the island from the sea. The Grand Turk Lighthouse, on the island's northwest point, is a further prominent landmark for orientation around the island, though it lies some distance from the airfield itself.
The airfield's runway originated as the U.S. Air Force South Base, built in the early 1950s alongside a separate U.S. Navy facility, NAVFAC 104, near the Grand Turk Lighthouse. South Base functioned as a guided missile tracking station under contract with Pan American Airways and the Radio Corporation of America, and its runway became the civilian airport after the base was decommissioned in 1983. The airport is named for James Alexander George Smith McCartney, the Turks and Caicos' first Chief Minister, who died in a plane crash in New Jersey in 1980. It was also the site where the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule mission's astronaut was recovered, and a replica of the capsule stands at the airport. Grand Turk enjoyed decades of scheduled airline service, from Bahamas Airways' 1950s Heron and DC-3 flights to Nassau, through Mackey International's DC-6 service to Miami and Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s, to jet operations by Air Florida, Cayman Airways, Atlantic Gulf Airlines, Pan Am and Carnival Air Lines between the late 1970s and mid-1990s, most of it focused on Miami. Turks and Caicos Airways, based at Grand Turk, also operated turboprop and Boeing 737 services in the 1990s linking the island to Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the wider territory.
Today the airport handles mainly domestic services operated by Caicos Express Airways and InterCaribbean Airways, connecting Grand Turk with Providenciales, South Caicos and Salt Cay, alongside seasonal charter and cruise-related traffic; the field remains capable of accommodating larger jets such as the Boeing 757 and Airbus A321. Hurricanes Irma and Maria caused severe damage to the airport in 2017, and following repair work the newly refurbished terminal reopened in July 2019. Facilities include a small restaurant, rental car services and free parking, though there is no public transport on the island.