Hewanorra International Airport guide

Hewanorra International Airport sits on the southern tip of Saint Lucia, next to the town of Vieux Fort. It handles the island's long-haul and intercontinental flights, while the smaller George F. L. Charles Airport near Castries serves regional traffic. The name comes from an Amerindian word meaning "land of the iguana".

The airport began as Beane Army Airfield, built for United States forces in 1941. Its single east-west runway is 2,744 metres long, which suits large jets including the Boeing 747, Airbus A330 and Boeing 777. The airport is rated Fire Category 9 and is designed to handle about 700,000 passengers a year. Q1 2019 figures from the operator counted 223,388 passengers and 5,350 aircraft movements.

Castries lies about 53 km to the north, and the mountain road between the two takes roughly an hour and twenty minutes by car. Most visitors transfer to resorts on the island's west coast. A redevelopment programme began with a new air traffic control tower, and a planned terminal expansion would raise capacity to 1.2 million passengers a year.