Henry E. Rohlsen Airport


Henry E. Rohlsen Airport is a public airport located six miles southwest of Christiansted on the island of St. Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. The airport is named after Henry E. Rohlsen, a St. Croix native who was one of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
It is a small international airport that hosts mainly inter-Caribbean flights. The airport, which was a hub for Aero Virgin Islands in the 1970s and 1980s, has the capability to receive jets up to the size of the Boeing 747s. Prior to 1996 the airport was known as Alexander Hamilton International Airport and was renamed that year Henry E. Rohlsen International Airport.
Embraer 190 on the apron
DHC-6 Twin Otter unloading passengers

History

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces Sixth Air Force stationed the 12th Bombardment Squadron at the airport for antisubmarine patrols flying B-18 Bolo aircraft from November 8, 1941 to November 10, 1942.
Historically, a number of airlines operated scheduled passenger jet service into St. Croix in the past. These air carriers included Air Florida with Douglas DC-9-10s, Caribair with McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s, Continental Airlines with Boeing 727-200s, Eastern Airlines with Boeing 727-100s, 727-200s and 757-200s, Midway Airlines with Boeing 737-200s, Pan Am with Boeing 727-200s as well as wide body Airbus A300B4s and Trans Caribbean Airways with Boeing 727-200s. One air carrier that has served St. Croix for many years is American Airlines. In 1974, American was serving the airport with Boeing 707 and Boeing 727-100 jetliners with nonstop flights to New York City. In 1994, American was operating Airbus A300-600R wide body jets into St. Croix with nonstop service to Miami. A Boeing 747 carrying relief supplies during the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn landed at the airport in 1995. Satellite imagery in Google Earth shows the presence of C-17 and C-130 military transports in 2006 and 2015.
On Sunday, November 11, 2018, the second largest cargo airplane in the world, the Antonov An-124 landed on St. Croix to deliver building supplies for houses as part of the hurricane recovery.

Facilities and aircraft

Henry E. Rohlsen Airport covers an area of which contains one asphalt paved runway measuring. For the 12-month period ending September 30, 2013, the airport had 36,287 aircraft operations, an average of 99 per day: 68% air taxi, 25% general aviation, 6% scheduled commercial and 1% military. In the same period, there were also 36 aircraft based at this airport, including 11 single-engine, 15 multi-engine, 5 jets, four military aircraft and one helicopter.

Henry E. Rohlsen Airport Renovation

In August 2018, the Virgin Islands Port Authority held a charrette to announce and discuss the expansion and renovation of the terminal.
On March 14, 2019, the VIPA announced bidding for phase one of the upgrade project to be in September.
Here is the complete list of what's to be done at both airports, by phase.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Statistics

Top destinations

Accidents and incidents