PJIA does not comply with all
safety standards, says Minister
AIRPORT--Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) does not comply with modern safety standards. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will present its report on the airports in the Dutch Kingdom in the Netherlands next Friday.
Minister of Transport Maurice Adriaens told The Daily Herald he had already received a verbal explanation from ICAO on its official report.
He said that although St. Maarten hadn’t been subjected to a rigorous scan as was the case with Curaçao, Aruba and especially Bonaire, there were some comments about the safety situation in St. Maarten.
“According to new safety regulations the space needed past the runway should be several hundred yards long. In St. Maarten this is not the case,” Adriaens said. However, he pointed out that this problem was difficult to solve, as the airport had been at its present location for years.
“ICAO also accepts that it’s not possible to just build a new airport somewhere else. The organisation does not give the solutions though; it just points out the points of concern.”
Adriaens said the Civil Aviation Department had to come up with suggestions to enhance safety as much as possible and work on these suggestions with airport authorities in St. Maarten.
However, one of ICAO’s complaints in general is that the Civil Aviation Department is understaffed, he said.
“There is only one employee who deals with all airports of the Netherlands Antilles, while there should be one employee for each airport,” Adriaens said. “Therefore the department has no overview on all airports. Neither can the department provide the necessary training of personnel in case of a disaster, check the equipment properly and give the guidance as expected.”
