Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
George F. L. Charles Airport, also known as Vigie Airport, sits at Vigie on the northern edge of Castries, Saint Lucia's capital, and is the smaller of the island's two aerodromes. It handles regional turboprop traffic rather than jets, and its single runway runs hard against the popular Vigie Beach, giving arriving pilots a distinctive coastal approach. For a VFR flight in the region it is a compact, characterful field with visual-only landings on one runway direction.
George F. L. Charles Airport, commonly called Vigie Airport, is a government-owned aerodrome managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority, serving Castries and the northern part of Saint Lucia. It is the smaller of the island's two airports, the other being Hewanorra International further south, and today handles regional Caribbean turboprop services rather than scheduled jets. Its proximity to Castries, its single beachside runway and its general aviation presence make it an interesting short-hop destination for a simulator pilot exploring the Eastern Caribbean.
The airport lies at Vigie, about 2 km north of central Castries, Saint Lucia's capital, with the runway running parallel to Vigie Beach. It is the northern of the island's two airports, with Hewanorra International Airport situated well to the south near Vieux Fort.
The airport has a single physical runway, 09/27, oriented east-west. Runway 09 is 5,792 feet long and runway 27 is 5,207 feet long, both with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS.
Published frequencies for the airport are Approach/Departure on 119.8 MHz, ATIS on 132.6 MHz, Ground on 121.8 MHz and Tower on 118 MHz. An RNAV and NDB approach is available for Runway 09; landings on Runway 27 are strictly visual, so pilots should be prepared to fly a visual approach and circuit when operating in that direction.
Because Runway 27 has no instrument approach and landings on it are flown visually, pilots joining to land in that direction need good visual reference to the field and its beachside surrounds. Runway 09 can be flown using the published RNAV or NDB approach.
Vigie Beach lies immediately alongside the runway and directly opposite the airport's terminal and departure area, making it a prominent landmark for visually identifying the field. The city of Castries, close to the south of the airport, provides a further reference for pilots inbound from the coast.
The airfield opened in 1941 as Vigie Field. British West Indies Airways (BWIA) was serving it by 1950 with Lockheed Lodestar flights to destinations including Barbados, Grenada, Port of Spain, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St Kitts, moving to Vickers Viscount turboprops on a multi-stop regional routing by 1965. Leeward Islands Air Transport also operated into the field from the mid-1960s with Hawker Siddeley HS 748 aircraft. The airport saw scheduled jet service for several decades: Caribair flew McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s from 1968, LIAT operated BAC One-Eleven jets in the early 1970s, Carib Express used BAe 146s in the mid-1990s, and BWIA International flew McDonnell Douglas MD-80s to Miami and New York JFK via Antigua in 1996. On 4 August 1997 the airport was renamed in honour of Sir George Frederick Lawrence Charles (1916 to 2004), a Saint Lucian politician; it had previously been known simply as Vigie Field.
The airport now carries no scheduled jet service, with all transatlantic and jet traffic to Saint Lucia routed via Hewanorra International Airport further south. Regional turboprop operators such as those flying the ATR 72-500 and de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 use the field for Caribbean routes. The airport also houses the George Charles Outstation of the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority, General Aviation Services, and the Island Flyers Club.