Departure
94%
vs 95% ▼ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Hewanorra International Airport (TLPL/UVF) is Saint Lucia's principal international gateway, sitting on the southern cape of the island near Vieux Fort. It offers a single long east-west runway capable of handling wide-body jets, and originated as a wartime US military airfield, giving it a straightforward but historically interesting profile for visiting sim pilots.
Hewanorra International Airport, identified by the ICAO code TLPL and IATA code UVF, is the larger of Saint Lucia's two airports and is managed by the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority. It handles the bulk of the island's international long-haul traffic, including wide-body jet services, and also serves as a cargo hub. For a simulator pilot, it presents an interesting contrast to the island's smaller, tighter George F.L. Charles Airport in Castries, offering a long single runway set against a coastal, low-lying tropical landscape.
The airport lies on the southern tip of Saint Lucia, near Vieux Fort, close to the island's southern seaport and freezone area. It is situated at an elevation of 10 feet, making for a low, flat approach environment typical of coastal Caribbean airfields. The island's other airport, George F.L. Charles, lies to the north near Castries and handles inter-Caribbean turboprop traffic, so pilots should be mindful of the differing character and traffic mix of the two fields when planning a flight around Saint Lucia.
Hewanorra has a single physical runway, 10/28, oriented east-west, with a hard surface and lighting throughout. Runway 10 measures 8,968 feet in length, while the reciprocal Runway 28 measures 8,481 feet, the difference reflecting the runway's turning bays used for back-tracking at each end. The runway is connected by two taxiways at its midsection.
Hewanorra is served by St Lucia Approach on 119.8 MHz, Ground on 121.6 MHz, and Tower on 118.3 MHz. The airport is equipped with RNAV, VOR/DME, and NDB approaches, though no ILS is available.
The airport is located on the southern cape of Saint Lucia, roughly 53 kilometres from Castries, with the coastline and the southern seaport and freezone area of Vieux Fort providing useful orientation for pilots approaching from over the sea.
The airfield was originally established as Beane Army Airfield and was used as a military airfield by the United States Army Air Forces' Sixth Air Force during the Second World War. In more recent decades it has grown into Saint Lucia's principal international airport, having been served by wide-body aircraft including British Airways Boeing 747-200s and BWIA Lockheed L-1011 Tristars in the early 1990s. The airport was the site of the Quebecair Flight 714 accident on 19 February 1979, when a Boeing 707-123B charter flight from Toronto encountered wind shear on approach, causing the nose landing gear to be destroyed on touchdown; there were no fatalities and only minor injuries reported.
Hewanorra continues to operate as Saint Lucia's main international airport, serving scheduled flights from carriers including Air Canada, Air Transat, American Airlines, British Airways, Condor, Delta, and JetBlue among others, and handling several hundred thousand passengers annually. The airport also functions as a valuable air cargo hub for the island.