Plane Spotting In St. Maarten

If you’ve not made it to St. Maarten (SXM) you are definitely missing out. It’s not exactly easy to get to non-revving as the flights are usually full. But when you do, it is worth it!

My last time there was in April 2022 and I flew in on a revenue ticket on American Airlines from Miami. The airport is now renewed with jet bridges, which makes it hard to see the planes, but progress I guess. On one of my stays, the one where I took that photo above, I stayed at The Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino; its a little pricey, but you can sit on the balcony and watch planes all day; how about that. Check rates at the hotel below:

 

From the U.S. American, Delta (DL), Frontier Airlines (F9), JetBlue (B6), Seaborne (BB), Silver Airways (3M), Spirit (NK), Sun Country Airlines (SY), United Airlines (UA)

From Canada, it’s Air Canada (AC), Air Transat (TS), Sunwing Airlines (WG) and Westjet (WS). Air France (AF) comes in from Paris and KLM from Amsterdam and a number of Caribbean airlines including Caribbean Airlines (BW), St. Barth Commuter (PV) and United Caribbean Airlines (4J) also serve the island.

Oh and Copa Airlines (CM) comes in from Panama and of course the local airline Winair (WM),

Ensure you have backup passes if you non-rev though as it gets tricky. Once I had to buy a ticket to St. Thomas (STT), then take American to San Juan (SJU).

 

 

Try not to be like these silly people below and stand at the end of the fence behind the airplane as it leaves. As you know those four engines are very powerful! 

The draw is the approach to the island and its very short runway with mountains at one end and the Caribbean Sea at the other. It’s main star used to be The KLM Boeing 747-400! Today, it’s the Air France and KLM Airbus A330 and the occasional Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Here’s a video that Air France Airbus A330 takeoff  from SXM.

I’ve also added some more photos and videos from my visits there. Have you visited? Please leave a comment below.