TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Airport shut down

Good morning Folks ,
Airport currently shut down .

There were rumors of a strike this am.

Lesley--On a Saturday?? OMG.. Please keep us updated..

The news is coming from what we consider am unreliable source. Now saying airport open with smaller staff. Planes are coming in at the moment. We'll see.

Sounds like something deliberate, to screw up things the worst they could, on a Saturday. I feel sorry for anyone who is coming in or leaving today.

Yikes. My dad is there now, leaving today. I think he has one of Leslie’s cars! Following ….

Lori--if you hear from him, please post.

Okay back to normal , back pay money issue and used Saturday deliberate .

Lesley--thanks for the update. Yes, for sure, on Saturday, to screw up things as much as possible.

🚨🚨 AIRPORT ALERT 🚨🚨
Princess Juliana international Airport (SXM) will have a scheduled closure at 6pm, today, Saturday, January 15, to ensure safety due to limited staff at the Air Traffic Services (ATS).
(Source: SXM Airport)

Today's second flight on American Airlines from Charlotte has been diverted to Miami and will leave there at 6:00 AM tomorrow. Today's second flight from Miami will now depart tomorrow at 7:00.

Daughter and her family are on the Delta n/s from JFK. Hopefully they will have no difficulties. I’m sure they’ll be okay…….they should be landing very soon if not already.

Edited to add - as of right now, their flight should be on the ground at PJIA. Amen and thank you, Lord, for another safe flight.

JBU1877, JBU995 & UAL1629 commercial flights + N132D & N212RG private all currently (18:50UTC) in hold pattern ~200m NW of SXM, maybe something to do with this - or maybe not, just saying.
Looks like the a/c in the hold are now being sequenced inbound, presumably because the airport closing time was pushed back to 9pm local so they will be able to get in and off again today.

Mikel--wow, a lot of unhappy people today.

pat--glad that Kim and family were able to get on island.

Princess Juliana International Airport - St. Maarten
3a87a7860g1shoure51i6f24 ·
UPDATED:
Public Service Announcement:
The Princess Juliana international Airport (SXM) is hereby announcing an updated closure time for today at 9:00PM. The previous notification of 6:00PM was to ensure safety, due to the limited staff at the Air Traffic Services (ATS).
If and when there are any changes, Airport’s Corporate Communications will update all stakeholders and the general public accordingly. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused

Hi, Carol and me, too. They’re only there for four nights so I was hoping things would be smooth…….
Just had a note from her - said she cleared the airport in 29 minutes, all entry paperwork done, and it was easy-peazy. Of course, no bags to claim and the airport situation had to help.

We are some of the unlucky folks who's Saturday morning flight has been delayed until Sunday morning. I've sent an email to EHAS but haven's received an answer yet. Does anyone have any idea how/if the change in arrival date will impact our EHAS auth/QR code?

IslandBound--sorry to hear about your situation. Did you try to call EHAS? Phone number is 721-542-1570. Hope tomorrow goes smoothly for you.

Thanks Carol, I've tried to call several times but no-one is picking up.

OK, best wishes..

My advice is to resubmit your EHAS applications. The first roadblock is your airline. You may be denied boarding without an EHAS approval for tomorrow. The second roadblock is SXM itself, and getting an answer out of them today may not be possible. Even if you're told that today's approval will be accepted tomorrow there's no guarantee that will be the case when you eventually arrive.

I would go totally batsh*t if the AIRLINE told me I couldn't board because of a flight diversion...and....what would be the reason for a fully vaxxed person to be denied....testing for return to the USA has a 24 hour wiggle room built in just because of this

Just received the following via email from EHAS

Thanks-for-contacting-SXM-Ehas.
Please-check-with-your-departure-airline-to-see-if-they-will-accept-your-samne-pre-approval-letter.-On-our-end-it’s-ok

Re: Airport Situation, Summary Proceedings (Kort Geding)
The decision
The Court of First Instance of Sint Maarten: prohibits the union from continuing or supporting the de facto strike that is currently taking place and orders the union to call on its members to start work from 17:00 this afternoon, on pain of a penalty of US $100,000 for each hour that it fails to do so, determines that this prohibition applies until otherwise decided in summary proceedings, declares this decision provisionally enforceable, on the minute and on all days and hours, determines that the hearing of this summary proceedings will take place on Monday, January 17, 2022 at 1.30 pm at the Courthouse, defers any further decision.
(Source: Courthouse of Sint Maarten)

IslandBound--good for you.. Hope tomorrow goes smoothly.

Elaine--thanks for the update.

Not true .

Lesley--sorry, what's not true??

Okay I saw the mentioned about closure at 6.00pm , however I just noticed that she placed the updated info to 9.00pm via the Court decision.
I just got off from work .

Around 530p there was about an hour of continuous takeoffs...with AF going in the opposite direction after another AF had just landed. Everyone else went west...ATC was cranking them out....

Yes , and we see them everyday , simply because our front balcony patio looks over the whole Runway . Cool .

I noticed that todays AA non-stop Philadelphia to SXM flight 2312 has been re-scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Yep, that's us CJIMI, hopefully all goes well in the AM.

it seems worth ALL the turmoil we have been experiencing from ....Irma /airport damage, covid, etc etc) but enough is enough eh??

It seems that you have to have a ton of patience's to fly into "our island" these days!! These workers got some set of balls talking about striking! There are so many people on the island dying to find work!! You want to strike? GO, don't come back! I'll find a replacement in seconds!

I don't think that there are many people on the Island looking for Air Traffic Control jobs and the proposed 12.5% cut in salaries might have had something to do with it.

I don't want just anyone being an "air traffic controller" if they fire "these" strikers. Thinking that you can just throw anyone up in the tower and the planes will land themselves will lend a whole new level of excitement to traveling to the island by plane. SXM is not the USA, I don't think they need Ronald Reagan styled labor practices.

You're kidding .......right???

There was also a mention of "back pay" as an issue.