Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport, formerly Golden Rock Airport, sits just northeast of Basseterre on the island of Saint Kitts and serves as the principal international gateway for Saint Kitts and Nevis. Operated by the St Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority, it offers a single long hard runway capable of handling wide-body jets, making it a notable destination for simulator pilots flying larger types into the Eastern Caribbean.
Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport (IATA: SKB, ICAO: TKPK) lies just northeast of Basseterre on Saint Kitts and is the main air link for the twin-island federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Formerly known as Golden Rock Airport, it was renamed in honour of Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, the first Premier of St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. It is operated by the St Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority and handles scheduled jet services to North America alongside a busy network of regional commuter flights, making it of interest to simulator pilots flying anything from light island-hoppers to wide-body airliners.
The airport is located on Saint Kitts, just northeast of the capital, Basseterre, in the Eastern Caribbean. Its reference point lies at approximately 17.3111N, 62.7186W, at a field elevation of 161 feet.
The airport has a single physical runway, 07/25, aligned east-west. It is 7,206 feet long with a hard surface and is lit, making it suitable for both day and night jet operations.
Air traffic services are provided on Tower on 118.3 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz, and Approach on 119.6 MHz. There is no ILS installed at the field.
The airfield was built in the 1940s and later renamed Golden Rock Airport before taking its current name in honour of Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw. A major US$17 million renovation, financed through loans from the St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank and Taiwan, began in late 2004 and was completed in December 2006; it included widening the parking apron to accommodate six wide-bodied aircraft simultaneously, complete resurfacing of the runway, and construction of a new taxiway. In 2011 a chartered SriLankan Airlines Airbus A340-300 made aviation history with a near 10,000-mile charter flight from Colombo to St Kitts, and in 2013 a joint Taiwan-St Kitts venture built a 1MW solar farm on the airport grounds, its panels arranged to spell out a welcome message visible from the air. On 26 September 2009, a British Airways Boeing 777-236 (G-VIIR) entered the runway via the wrong taxiway prior to departure for Antigua, reducing the available takeoff distance by 695 metres; the subsequent AAIB investigation found that the airport had not installed taxiway or holding-point signs and that the crew had misidentified the taxiway during a trainee-controlled session, though the takeoff itself was completed without incident.
The airport remains the principal international airport for Saint Kitts and Nevis, able to accommodate large commercial jets, with a Boeing 747-400 recorded as the largest aircraft to have used the field. It hosts scheduled services from North American and regional Caribbean carriers as well as cargo operators, and houses the St Kitts Outstation of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority.