TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Air port repairs

It seems unbelievable that after over 4 months that almost nothing has been done ,at least to repair the roof . I know they are saying that they are waiting for insurance to be paid , but there is no way the airport authority could not have started the repair process they have money in reserve and it should have spent it to water tight the building . The real question is has the claim been processed ? The SXM economy will never recover if this airport is left in this state . Right now they have put SXM back 30 years , the quanset hut buildings were positive step back then now we have tents .
A very disgusted traveler and a 30 year visitor and lover of this Island .

From my understanding the airport authority is already fairly flush with money so why even any delay to get things moving with or without insurance money coming in. For something so important to the Island it seems like they have a sever lack of urgency or a just a bit incompetent to handle the job. Also amazing after almost 5 months now they best they can do is still a tent for arrivals, to a small area to find your bags then have to drag them outside and down a long hot walkway to a very chaotic parking lot and pick up area. Regardless, Its just a horrible not very well thought out process. And by not reacting quick enough to minimize the damage by getting the place dried out they only made it worse and much more expensive to fix. Yes I know the scope of the disaster and the struggle but its Just a total lack of Gov to react. Good that they are setting up some better portable buildings now but I have heard that a Miami company got the bid and will have to strip the airport building back to almost the metal and the cost could be more than the entire cost to first build and take 2 years. Lets hope not that long, they need a airport asap.

Like everyone else who loves this Island, I’m glad they were able to reopen and get the airport functioning as soon as they did since the life blood of the island depends tremendously on its ports but, IMHO, ............tents and temporary structures are NOT going to do the Island any favors long term.

The most lasting travel impressions for most vacationers are their first and last experiences and sadly, they are the ones that currently need a lot of room for improvement. Most long-timers and repeat visitors will be happy just to be there, but new-comers and first-timers will be appalled and most will be lacking the comprehension of what had recently happened across the Island (and to what degree!) to be patiently tolerant of the current situations.

As long as there is only one big plane at a time things might be okay, but I can’t imagine the chaos of three or four fully packed arrivals or departures all at approximately the same time frame and all those people milling around with their luggage and trying to cope with getting to their cabs, cars or vans or the various departure check-points.

There are many beautiful Caribbean islands with great resorts and beautiful beaches along with airports that make their access easy and welcoming. Sadly not the case right now on St. Maarten, and unfortunately, these are the memories too many newcomers are most apt to carry away with them.

It is imperative the terminal structures be repaired (or rebuilt?) and reopened ASAP and to fail to do so will continue to give the Island a big black eye to too many visitors.

Playing devils advocate here, and I agree mostly with your post. But if the airport were to be fully functional, there is still very little accommodation open. And the majority of the BIG places are close to six months, a year away, if not longer. Planes are expensive and don't meet travelers expectation of convenient routing. But none of this will be fixed until the rooms are available. And most STILL waiting for insurance.

What is happening at the airport is happening everywhere here. Those in charge have not a clue. If it were not for people helping people we would be nowhere.

The airport is going to take a LONG time to be fully functional and I am with the others, I do not understand how they can have done NOTHING so far...

It's endemic here.

I have often said that living in the Caribbean takes a certain kind of fortitude to put up with STUFF, that I most definitely do NOT have.

Yep, and then I get up in the morning and sit on my balcony. Feel so privileged. And then the water goes out.

I believe I read that they intend to repair the terminal building to withstand a future cat 5 hurricane. Stronger than it was before. That is going to take longer than some simple patchwork.

I’m sorry for taking this thread in a different direction but I’d like an experienced opinion. We are strongly considering a return in July. WestJet is showing that flights out of Toronto will begin in late April. I imagine that there’s a large possibility that flights may be cancelled depending on the amount of interest but will Princess Juliana be able to take an increase in traffic by July, let alone April?

We have flights booked with Westjet for May 6th and are staying at Beachside Villas. I hope that nothing happens with our flights out of Toronto. I noticed that they are only flying on Sundays and if I am not mistaken last year during low season they were flying two days a week. This may help fill up the flight. Fingers crossed!!!

I don't know the answer to your question, but we're coming in early May. I'll post our experience here.

At this point, IMHO, the terminal building should be stripped to the steel and rebuilt, which is a 2-year project at best. If it isn't, there will be perpetual problems, some of them health-related. The outfall from a 2-year project will limit flights to SXM for years to come, and will present price and capacity challenges for visitors who would like to return sooner.

I leave any questions as to whether or not damage, reconstruction, and recovery could have been limited by earlier intervention to the people of Sint Maarten. They're the "boots on the ground" who know better than any of us what was possible, and what wasn't.

And then there is the discussion of Hotel/TImeshare reconstruction...

I agree with you Bahston, that the building should be stripped to the steel, or perhaps even bulldozed, especially since they claim they are going to build it back stronger. However, I continue to be amazed and stunned that nothing appears to be happening. Next high season is going to be a cluster f*ck at the airport, as they most assuredly will still be operating out of tents by then. Tourists will be coming back in droves and it will not be a happy experience at the airport..

It has to stripped and it will take time . Harsh reality for us here.

Lesley--are they even STARTING to strip it down???

They have currently started to clean out the debris. We will see how it goes Carol.

I don’t know what the deal is here. The building structure survived the hurricane, I can see them perhaps reroofing it where necessary, and redoing the facade, but a total rebuild is ridiculous. The interior work is just cosmetic and realistically should have been done by now. The last large hurricane was 20 years ago, so the chances of another storm like this in the near future are not great. So if they take “island time” to mess around with the rebuild, they won’t need to worry about tourists, because there won’t be any. From my experience of trying to get things done at my villa, the contractors are clueless, rarely show up when they say they will, and seem like they just don’t care. There are some good ones, but few and far between. Empty promises are a dime a dozen. I’ve said many times, if they tried to conduct business like that in the U.S. they’d starve to death.

Actually, the interior work is NOT cosmetic, not at all. All the interior drywall, all the electrical, etc., is toast, because they have let water come in for close to 5 months now and everything is mold infested.

I also believe weather is going to continue to be worse, the water is warmer, and storms will be stronger.

I don't know about that. The only major hurricane-predicting organization that correctly identified 2017's activity is predicting 2018 to be "somewhat of a repeat" of 2017.

Global Weather Oscillations

Absolutely correct. Three years ago a home that we were renting in Cape Coral, FL had a flood that we discovered on arrival at 9pm (somehow the toilet feeder hose had disconnected sometime previously and put "only" 2-3 inches of water in 50% of the house). It was MUCH more than what was visibly wet that had to be removed. The water wicked up the walls to about 3 feet from the ceiling. EVERYTHING had to go..right down to the studs....and this was just from ground level water not from the roof. Mold was quite evident after less than a week.

The airport is full of mold and not safe to enter. Seems the biggest problem once they stop the water coming in is the basement. All the electronics and mechanicals used to run the airport including computers, baggage handling etc are there and under water - salt water.

There were supposed to of had a high level meeting to discuss the airport and what was going to be done and when it would start , did they meet ? I have not seen anything or even a mention of it . The normal way of thinking would be to get moving as soon as possible ,but I guess they are happy to move into a third rate Island if this situation continues there will be no need for a beautiful airport no one will want to come

Ya they will come. It will never be a third rate island. Irma proved the new building was not serviceable. An intelligent group will require reports & evaluations before they decide how to repair, reassemble or replace the destroyed structure.

In the Herald today.
https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islan...nal-building-demolition-starts-next-week

According to a buddy of mine the stench emanating from the inside is pretty bad.