Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Zorg en Hoop Airport is a small general aviation field on the western edge of Paramaribo, Suriname, serving as the city's secondary airport to the larger Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport at Zanderij. It handles flight training, charter and emergency medical flights, plus a scheduled propeller service to Georgetown, Guyana, making it a useful and characterful destination for visiting pilots.
Zorg en Hoop Airport sits within the city of Paramaribo and functions as Suriname's secondary airport, complementing the larger international airport at Zanderij some 45 kilometres to the south. It is a base for general aviation, flight training and emergency medical services, and is the operating hub for Blue Wing Airlines and Gum Air. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting short-hop destination with a compact single hard runway close to the heart of the city, plus the appeal of scheduled light-aircraft services onward into Suriname's interior and across to Guyana.
The airfield lies in Paramaribo, in the Distrikt Paramaribo, about 3 kilometres west of the Suriname River, sandwiched between the city quarters of Zorg en Hoop and Flora. It should not be confused with Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, the country's main international gateway, which lies roughly 45 kilometres to the south at Zanderij.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 11/29, of hard surface and lit for night operations. Runway 29 is 2,551 feet long, while Runway 11 is 1,841 feet long; the difference reflects a 200 metre (660 foot) displaced threshold on Runway 11. There is no ILS or other instrument approach available.
No published communications frequencies are recorded for the airport, and there is no ILS or other instrument approach procedure.
The Suriname River, roughly 3 kilometres to the east, is a prominent landmark for pilots approaching from that direction, and the airfield lies between the recognisable city quarters of Zorg en Hoop and Flora. Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, some 45 kilometres to the south at Zanderij, provides a useful reference point for pilots distinguishing between Paramaribo's two airports.
The airfield was put into use in October 1952, when Rudi Kappel and Herman van Eyck established Suriname's first air company, Kappel-van Eyck. Its first flight was made in a Stinson Reliant, registration PZ-TAA, and in November 1952 the company built the first hangar at Zorg en Hoop and added a second Stinson Reliant, PZ-TAB, to its fleet. During the summer of 1953 the airfield was used as a base for developing many of the airstrips that opened up Suriname's interior, and on 22 August 1953 the first mail delivery and passenger flight in Suriname's history departed from Zorg en Hoop for Moengo, followed by a service to Coronie on 28 September. Further routes to Nickerie and Albina were later flown with a new Piper Cub, PZ-NAC, named Colibri.
Zorg en Hoop remains a busy general aviation airfield, used for flight training, emergency medical services and charter work, and it serves as an operating hub for Blue Wing Airlines and Gum Air. It maintains connections to a number of smaller airstrips in Suriname's interior, and the only regular international service is to Georgetown-Ogle in Guyana, flown with smaller propeller aircraft by Gum Air and Trans Guyana Airways. Airlines operating jet aircraft instead serve Paramaribo through Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport at Zanderij.