Rafael Hernández Airport
| Rafael Hernández Airport | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | TJBQ |
| IATA code | BQN |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 72 m (236 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 6 km north of Aguadilla |
| Street | PR 107 / PR 110 |
| Basic data | |
| operator | Puerto Rico Ports Authority |
| surface | 647 ha |
| Flight movements |
48,633 (2016) |
| Start-and runway | |
| 08/26 | 3567 m × 61 m asphalt / concrete |
The Rafael Hernández Airport ( IATA : BQN ; ICAO : TJBQ ) is a both civilian and military sites, international airport in Aguadilla on the west of the island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean . It is named after the Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández Marín . The airport is mainly used by Puerto Ricans from the west of the island on their way to the USA .
The airport was built in 1939 as Borinquen Army Air Field , soon to be called Ramey Air Force Base , for anti-submarine defense. Until 1974, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) operated the airfield as an air force base and missile launch site for the United States Air Force . There some sounding rockets of the type Jason were launched in the summer of 1958 in support of Operation Argus . After the SAC was dissolved, the facility was rededicated as a civil airport.
The base is now operated by the US Coast Guard as CGAS Borinquen. The civil part operates under the name Rafael Hernández Airport .
After the closure of Ramey AFB in 1974, the control tower was not demolished, but was only operated again after its renovation from July 5, 2007. The airport recorded 432,651 passengers in 2012.
In February 2012, the Mayor of Aguadilla and the then US Secretary of Commerce John Bryson announced that the airport would be declared a free trade zone.
On April 10, 2014 Lufthansa Technik announced that a maintenance facility (MRO) for short and medium-haul aircraft with up to 400 workstations would be set up on the airport grounds . Two US carriers have already been won as customers, including Jetblue Airways , the market leader on routes between Puerto Rico and the USA, in which Lufthansa holds a 19 percent stake.
Web links
- Ramey in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b AirportIQ 5010: Rafael Hernández. GCR1.com, accessed September 19, 2017 .
- ^ Charles A. Ravenstein: Air Force combat wings lineage and honors histories, 1947–1977. Air Force History & Museums program. 1984, ISBN 0-912799-12-9 .
- ↑ Lufthansa Technik: New location for aircraft overhaul in Puerto Rico , press release of April 10, 2014.
