In 2023, the airport was nominally renamed the Howard Hamilton International Airport, however, the name Providenciales International Airport remains the dominant name used outside of official government sources.[3]
The airport is at an elevation of 15 ft (5 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 10/28 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,807 m × 45 m (9,209 ft × 148 ft).[1][4] There were plans for the TCIAA to either extend or build a new terminal after having recently completed the extension of the runway, which currently stands at 2,807 m (9,209 ft) long. This project has now been completed and the renovation was finished by December 2014.[5][6]
According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), in late 1978 Southeast Airlines was the only air carrier operating scheduled passenger service to Miami (MIA) with a flight operated three days a week flown with a Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop airliner via two intermediate en route stops in Grand Turk and South Caicos. [18]
Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) was also serving the airport in 1985 with Boeing 727-200 jet service nonstop to Miami twice a week.[22] The next year in 1986 British Caribbean Airways was operating nonstop service to Miami flown with a British AerospaceBAe 146-100 jet as part of its Tortola, British Virgin Islands - Providenciales - Miami route. In 1987, Pan Am was flying a "triangle" routing of Miami - Grand Turk - Providenciales - Miami four days a week with a Boeing 727,[23] and in 1989 Pan Am was operating three nonstop flights a week to Miami with Boeing 727-200 jets.[24] By 1991, Pan Am had increased its service to four Boeing 727-200 flights a week nonstop to Miami while at the same time Cayman Airways was operating two nonstop flights a week to Miami with Boeing 737-200 jets.[25]
American Airlines was serving the airport by 1994 with a single daily nonstop Boeing 757-200 flight from Miami while at the same time Turks and Caicos Airways Ltd., which was based in nearby Grand Turk, was operating Boeing 737-200 service from Miami five days a week either nonstop or via a stop in Grand Turk.[28] Three airlines were operating nonstop flights to Miami in early 1995: American was continuing to serve Providenciales with a daily Boeing 727-200 nonstop flight plus a Saturday only Boeing 727-200 nonstop, Turks and Caicos Airways was flying nonstop with a Boeing 737-200 four days a week and Gray Line Air was operating nonstop Convair 580 turboprop service nine times a week.[29] In 1999, American was operating daily nonstop Boeing 727-200 service to Miami while at the same time Bahamasair was operating nonstop Boeing 737-200 flights to both Miami and Nassau twice a week.[30] By 2001, American was operating three daily nonstop flights to Miami with Boeing 737-800 aircraft and was also flying a Saturday only nonstop to New York John F. Kennedy Airport with a Boeing 737-800.[31]
Currently, the largest aircraft type serving the airport on a scheduled basis is the wide-body Boeing 777-200 operated by British Airways with direct flights once a week to London Gatwick Airport via an intermediate stop in Antigua.[32][33]
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