Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport guide

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport is Suriname's main gateway, serving Paramaribo from Zanderij in the interior lowlands. It is also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport. The IATA code is PBM and the ICAO code is SMJP.

The site began as Zanderij Airport, a Pan American World Airways stop before World War II. After the United States entered the war in December 1941, the US Army expanded it into a major Air Transport Command base on the South Atlantic ferry route to Freetown, Sierra Leone. US forces built the runways. On 22 October 1947 the base was handed to the Dutch authorities, who returned it to civil use. In 1972 it received the first Boeing 747 to land in South America.

The single concrete runway, 11/29, is 3,480 metres long. Seven airlines serve the airport, with KLM linking it to Amsterdam and Surinam Airways, Caribbean Airlines, Copa Airlines and GOL covering the Caribbean, South America and the Netherlands. Passenger numbers recovered to 519,171 in 2025, close to the 528,999 recorded in 2019. Plans include air bridges and a larger terminal with bigger arrival and departure halls.