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West End Airport lies at the extreme western tip of Grand Bahama, making it the westernmost aerodrome in the entire Bahamian archipelago. Once the main gateway to Grand Bahama before Freeport eclipsed it, the field today is a private strip operated by the Old Bahama Bay Resort, offering a single hard-surfaced runway with onsite customs and immigration for private and charter traffic.
West End Airport serves the small settlement of West End at the far western end of Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas. It is a private aerodrome operated by the Old Bahama Bay Resort, used today by private aircraft and charters, and is notable for being the westernmost runway anywhere in the Bahamian archipelago. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting short island hop with a distinctive resort setting and a runway that runs almost to the water's edge.
The airport sits at West End on Grand Bahama, in Bahamian airspace, and is smaller than the island's other airport at Freeport. It occupies the far western tip of Grand Bahama, giving it an isolated coastal position with open water close to the runway on more than one side.
West End Airport has a single hard-surfaced, lit runway pair aligned 12/30. The 12 threshold offers 5,980 ft of usable length and the 30 threshold 5,864 ft; the runway is lit for both directions and there is no instrument landing system.
No air traffic control or air-ground radio frequencies are published for West End Airport, and it has no instrument approach aids. Aircraft wishing to operate there must be pre-approved, with the aircraft registration submitted to airport management and Bahamas ATC in advance.
The airport can be identified by its position at the very western tip of Grand Bahama, adjacent to the West End settlement and the Old Bahama Bay Resort, with the runway running close to the shoreline.
West End Airport was built as part of an ambitious plan by the British firm Butlin's to construct a 1,000-guest resort at West End in the late 1940s. The partially completed resort operated for only a single season in 1950 before Butlin's ran out of money, though a small part of it was brought back into use in 1955 and more thoroughly redeveloped in 1960. In 1963 the airfield was renamed Jack Tar International Airport in connection with the redevelopment of the Butlin's site into Jack Tar Village. West End Airport served as the principal airport for Grand Bahama until it was overshadowed by the growth of Freeport, and in 1971 Northeast Airlines operated scheduled jet service between Boston and West End according to its route map of that year.
The airport is privately operated by the Old Bahama Bay Resort and serves private aircraft and charter flights, with onsite customs and immigration facilities. Only aircraft pre-approved by airport management and Bahamas ATC, with registration submitted in advance, may land, so prior permission is required before any flight to the field.
