Piarco International Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Piarco International Airport
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


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IATA = POS
ICAO = TTPP
type = Public
owner =
operator = Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago
city-served =
location = Port of Spain
elevation-f = 58
elevation-m = 18
coordinates = Coord|10|35|44|N|61|20|14|W|type:airport|display=inline,title
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number = 10/28
r1-length-f = 10,500
r1-length-m = 3,200
r1-surface = Asphalt
stat-year =
stat1-header =
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Piarco International Airport airport codes|POS|TTPP is the main airport serving Trinidad and Tobago located in Piarco, a town in northern Trinidad, about 25 km east of the capital city, Port of Spain. It is one of two international airports serving the twin isle republic. The other is located on the island of Tobago, Crown Point Airport.

Overview

Considered one of the most modern airports in the Caribbean, Piarco Airport opened on January 8, 1931, to serve Venezuela's "Compagnie Generale Aeropostale". Prior to this, the Queen's Park Savannah, the Mucarapo Field, and the Cocorite Docks (for flying boats) were used as airstrips to serve the island. A major expansion of the airport, which included the construction of a new terminal building, and high-speed taxiways, was completed in 2001. The old airport building is currently used for cargo handling. Piarco International Airport is also the primary hub and operating base of Caribbean Airlines. At Piarco International Airport there are two high-speed taxiways and three connector taxiways (ICAO Code F for new large aircraft). This technologically state of the art airport has 82 ticket counter positions that operate under SITA’s fiber-optic C.U.T.E. system which exceeds the recommended standards of ICAO and IATA. It also has a Flight Information Display System, which serves all airport users and a Baggage Information Display System.

The terminal is a fully air-conditioned, smoke free building, equipped to handle peak-hour passenger traffic of 1,500 processing passengers through a fully computerised and user-friendly immigration system, which minimises long lines and passenger hassle. This convenience is also found in the Customs hall, which has large baggage / cargo carousels.

An administrative/operations building for the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard is being construced at the Piarco Air Base. Also, a military airfield will be constructed near the air base.

Facilities

* The new North Terminal consist of 35,964 square meters (380,000 square ft) of building with 14 second-level aircraft gates for international flights and 2 ground level domestic gates. The overall layout of the building consists of three main elements: a landside core structure, a single level duty free shopping mall, and a 2-level 'Y' shaped concourse.
* cathedral ceilings and glass walls provide passengers and other visitors to the North Terminal with a sense of open space and magnificent views of the Piarco savannah and the nearby Northern mountain range.
* The public atrium has the largest glass dome in the Caribbean.
* The airport is large enough to accommodate most international widebody airliners including the Boeing 747, the Boeing 777 and the Airbus A340, medium sized aircraft including the Boeing 737 and Airbus A310 as well as small aircraft such as the DeHavilland Dash 8 and other such turboprop aircraft.
* The airport layout consists of one main terminal building which includes three concourses. These concourses are not strictly identified as their name depicts but are divided into the following areas; Gates 1-7, Gates 8-14 and the Tobago concourse which serves flights to Tobago.
* The Air Guard of Trinidad and Tobago is based at Piarco International Airport.
* A new, 9-story Control tower is being built.This will have radar unlike the existing one.
* Briko Air Services operates a flight school at the airport.

Airlines and destinations

* American Airlines (Miami {18 weekly})
** American Eagle (San Juan {4 weekly
* Avior Airlines (Caracas, Porlamar)
* Briko Air (Tobago [awiating government approval] )
* British Airways (Bridgetown {3 weekly} [ends October 2008] , London-Gatwick {3 weekly}, St Lucia {3 weekly} [starts October 2008] )
* Caribbean Airlines (Antigua, Barbados, Caracas {daily}, Ft. Lauderdale {daily}, Grenada*, Guyana, Kingston, Miami {daily}, New York-JFK {16 weekly}, Paramaribo {5 weekly}, St. Maarten {3 weekly}, Tobago {20x daily}, Toronto {11 weekly})
* Cayman Airways (Grand Cayman [Seasonal charters] )
* Continental Airlines (Houston-Intercontinental {daily}, Newark {3 weekly})
* Conviasa (Porlamar)
* Copa Airlines (Panama City){4 weekly})
* Delta Air Lines (Atlanta {3 weekly}, New York-JFK {5 weekly})
* LIAT (Antigua, Bridgetown, Curaçao {4 weekly}, Georgetown, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent)
* Rutaca (Caracas, Maturín, Porlamar) (Charter)
* Skyservice (Toronto-Pearson) (Charter)
* Spirit Airlines (Fort Lauderdale {3 weekly} )
* Surinam Airways (Oranjestad, Paramaribo/Zanderij, Willemstad 2 weekly})

"*" - Starting soon.

Cargo airlines

*Air Tahoma (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico)
*Amerijet (Miami)
*Arrow Air
*DHL Aviation (Barbados,Caracas)
*FedEx
*Airborne Express
*ABX Air

Runways

* Piarco International Airport currently has 1 runway (runway 10/28). The runway is equipped with lighting.
* By the year 2020, the airport will have a second runway, dedicated solely to freight traffic.
* The Air Guard of Trinidad and Tobago, which has a base at Piarco Airport, is constructing a military airfield.

Helipads

Piarco International Airport has two helipads.

Helicopter Services

*Bristow Caribbean
*Evergreen International

Control Tower

The control tower at the old terminal building is currently used for air traffic control. The tower at the new terminal building is used for ramp control and runway movement control. A new nine-storey control tower is planned, equipped with radar.

Supplies/Equipment

Fuel:
* Jet A1, without icing inhibitor.

* 115/145 octane gasoline, leaded, MIL-L-5572F (PURPLE)

* 80/87 octane gasoline, leaded, MIL-L-5572F (RED)

* 100/130 MIL Spec, low lead, aviation gasoline (BLUE)

Communications

* TWR
* RDO
* APRON
* GND
* ATIS
* APP
* ACC

Navaids

Navigational Aids:

Piarco International Airport has two state-of-the-art navigational aid systems:

1:
* Name: PIARCO
* Type: VOR-DME
* ID: POS
* Channel: 116X
* Frequency: 116.9
* Distance from airfield: 8.4 NM
* Bearing from Navaid: 036.8

2:
*Name: PIARCO
*Type: NDB
*ID: TRI
*Channel: -
*Frequency: 382
*Distance from airfield: 5.0 NM
*Bearing from Navaid: 102.7

Emergency Response/Airport Security

*The airport operates with a Category 9 Crash, Fire and Rescue station, which will be Category 10 (highest level) in the very near future.
*Piarco International Airport security is bolstered by the country’s police service which has a base at the Airport and provides 24-hour surveillance in and around the airport.
* The airport is equipped with 100 security cameras.
*IONSCAN machines are positioned at various points around the Airport to detect narcotics and explosive devices
*All inbound and outbound baggage and cargo are sent through 100% X-ray systems.
*Combined with this technology is AATT airport security comprising over 300 highly trained officers specialised in modern airport security under IATA standards.
*The airport has advanced biometric finger printing technology
*The security system at Piarco was designed and implement to connect the Airport Security with Trinidad & Tobago Hospital Emergency Management Systems
*Hardware and software based Security systems from “Identix Corporation”, and “Guardian Technologies” was implemented to protect Piarco airport from not just foreign and terrorist attacks, but from employees that work at the Airport itself.

Accidents and Incidents

* A man jumped a fence and was sucked into a British Airways Boeing 747 engine. 1 death. (Year unknown)
* An Aeropostal MD-80 broke its nosewheel after falling into open trench on taxiway. No deaths. (2001)
* Tobago Express Dash 8-300 made an emergency landing after the nose wheel failed to deploy. No deaths. (2005)
* Briko Air Cessna 172 crash-landed after a botched landing by a student pilot. No deaths. (2007)
* There were a series of collisions involving ground operator Servisair and three separate aircraft (BWIA 737-800, BWIA A340-300 and Continental 737-800)the damage done to the aircraft was minor but the incidents were hyped up by the local media.No deaths.(2005)
*A Briko Air C402 suffured a failiure of the right main gear and crash landed,closing the airport for two hours.No deaths.(2008)
*An American Airlines Boeing 757-200 made an emergency landing after hydraulic system problems.The aircraft landed safely but the brakes locked up and the plane couldn't exit the runway.Passengers were ferried to the terminal and mechanics took some three hours to remove the aircraft,closing the airport to flight ops.No Deaths.(2008)

Cargo

*Cargo Facilities:
*Bonded Warehouse
*Health Officials
*Security for Valuables
*Express/Courier Centre
*Bonded - Gov´t
*Cargo Handling Agents:
*Piarco Air Services Ltd
*General Aviation Services Ltd

Customs:Tel: [phone]

References

External links

* [http://www.tntairports.com/ Trinidad and Tobago Airports Authority]
*
* [http://www.piarcoairport.com www.PiarcoAirport.com]