Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
V C Bird International Airport (TAPA) is the principal gateway to Antigua and Barbuda, situated at Osbourn in the parish of Saint George on the northern side of Antigua. Operated by the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority, it offers a long hard-surfaced runway well suited to a wide range of visiting traffic, and carries a history stretching back to a wartime American military airfield.
V C Bird International Airport serves as the main air gateway to Antigua and Barbuda, lying at Osbourn in the parish of Saint George. It is operated by the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority (ABAA), which also runs Codrington Airport on the sister island of Barbuda. For the visiting simulator pilot the field offers a long single runway, a straightforward radio setup and a slice of Caribbean aviation history, having grown from a wartime American airbase into the region's busiest airport.
The airport sits at Osbourn in the parish of Saint George, Antigua and Barbuda, at coordinates 17.1361 N, 61.7939 W, with a field elevation of 39 feet.
There is a single physical runway, 07/25, hard-surfaced and lit throughout. Runway 25 is 8,984 feet long, while runway 07 is 8,326 feet long. There is no ILS available at the field.
Antigua Approach operates on 119.1 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 114.5 MHz. Ground movements are handled on 121.9 MHz, and Antigua Tower is on 118.2 MHz. Antigua Radio provides service on 26.48 MHz.
The aerodrome originated in 1942, when the United States Army built it for military use during the Second World War. In 1949 the base was handed over to the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, and the airport subsequently operated under the name Coolidge International Airport. It went on to attract services from major carriers including Pan Am, Eastern Airlines, Trans Canada Air Lines (the forerunner of Air Canada), Air France, American Airlines, BWIA, British Airways, Lufthansa and LIAT, linking Antigua to the Caribbean, North America and Europe. In 1985 the airport was renamed V C Bird International Airport in honour of Sir Vere Cornwall Bird, Antigua and Barbuda's first prime minister, who had been closely involved in the country's drive to independence in 1981.
The airport is managed by the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authority, a statutory body that also oversees Codrington Airport on Barbuda. It continues to function as the principal international airport for Antigua and Barbuda, handling scheduled airline traffic to and from North America, Europe and the wider Caribbean.