A bizarre airport in the heart of the Caribbean has a runway ending on the edge of a beach, with passenger liners passing just metres above the heads of sunseekers.
Princess Juliana Airport on the island of Sint Maarten is one of the world’s most unique transport hubs, with large jets and small propeller planes regularly seen roaring over the nearby Maho Beach during takeoff and landing.
So extraordinary is the spectacle that the strip of sand on the Dutch side of the island has become a destination for thrill speakers from all over the world.
Visitors go to experience the enormous aircraft whizzing over them and the rumble of jets as they prepare to take off.
However, signs are prominently displayed in the area warning the public to maintain a safe distance to avoid dangerous air blasts.
In 2017, a woman from New Zealand was tragically killed while watching a plane take off on the beach.
Police said at the time that 57-year-old Gayleen McEwan had been holding on to the fence separating the airport from the beach when the force of jet engines threw her backwards. She then reportedly hit her head on the rocks and sustained fatal injuries.
Back then, Sint Maarten said they visit the area on a daily basis to discourage tourists from clinging to the runway fence, as per BBC News.
Princess Juliana Airport sees some 1.8 million passengers per year, originating primarily from the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean.
The airport began life as an airbase, before being turned into a civilian airport opened by Princess Juliana of Orange of the Netherlands on March 4, 1944.
Twenty years later, the new Princess Juliana International Airport officially opened on its current site in Simpsonbay, according to the airport’s website.
Its Sint Maarten home is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the northern part of the island within the French overseas territory of Saint Martin.
