On a good day, one can see a lot of the neighboring islands that surround Sint Maarten. The jutting mountain profile of nearby Saba island, the more leisurely hills of Saint Barthelemy, and to the north, the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla.
A long, thin island, Anguilla is home to some 15,000 residents and a dazzling array of sparkling beaches and coves. It has a single airport, which serves most of the nearby islands as well as a few longer regional flights to places like Miami alongside seasonal service to the northeastern US.
If you wish to get there from Sint Maarten, however, the options are surprisingly limited. There’s a ferry, which isn’t for me, and on-demand charter operators offering transport via boats, airplanes and helicopters, which will cost you a very pretty penny. There’s also one scheduled airline, the appropriately named Anguilla Air Services (AAS).
Tickets are bookable via the airline’s website, with prices starting around $162 from Sint Maarten to Anguilla, and $93 for the return. Up to 50 lbs of baggage is free, with additional bags costing $40 each and up. Specialty items like surf boards and golf bags go for $60 a pop. As it is an international flight (currently the world’s shortest, as far as I can tell), passport information is collected to complete the booking process.
I locked in the tickets on the morning of my flight after seeing good weather and a chance to fly on board AAS’ super rare Britten Norman Trislander. Thankfully, despite booking mere hours in advance, the roundtrip price was only $272, which is only just slightly higher than the usual cost of booking in advance.
An hour before departure, I strolled into the terminal at Sint Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM), where AAS maintains a ticket booth but no permanent counter. With the booth unmanned it wasn’t clear where I was supposed to go. Turns out you have to visit the airport’s information desk; then a staffer calls up AAS, who sends an agent out to the desk and hands you a ticket. I’ve seen a lot of check-in procedures, but this one was a first.
From there the experience is like any other airport: go through security, clear immigration, and wait inside the same terminal as everyone else. A few minutes before the scheduled departure time the same agent reappeared, led me through a gate and out to a remote bus that would take us to the plane. By “us” I mean “me,” I was the only passenger scheduled for the flight. Another first!
The ride over was on board one of AAS’ Britten Normal Islanders, a basic ten-seat puddle-jumper that is a common sight in the Caribbean. With no one to compete with I climbed up into the row right behind the pilot and settled in to his right in what I guess was technically seat 2B.
The captain asked if there was any sight-seeing I wanted to do en route. Normally that would’ve been an easy “yes,” but I had a short connection to come back to SXM and had to pass.
The interior is basic, with five rows of bench-style seating. A reading light and air nozzle are the only on-board amenities. At least the seat itself is well padded, feeling more like the seat in a 1980s car vs today’s modern (if stiff) slimlines.
Minutes later the captain fired up the engines and taxied out to the runway. After a long wait, it was our turn and the airplane leapt into the sky and into an immediate hard left turn to the north for the 12 mile flight.
After passing over the bright blue waters of the Anguilla Channel, we began the descent into the capitol (The Valley). Not long after the pilot greased the runway and pulled into a parking spot. Total time aloft? Seven minutes.
The return flight went much the same way. The only difference was the plane type, which luckily for me was the incredibly rare Britten Norman Trislander. It is one of the few remaining airworthy copies of the type, and the only one left in scheduled passenger service.
The plane itself is a straight up stretch of the its older sibling, the Islander, extending the capacity from nine to seventeen passengers. Interior wise, it’s exactly the same, length excepted. Exterior wise, the good folks at Britten Norman decided to slap a third engine on the tail to help haul all the extra weight, which makes the airplane look like something a child drew on a restaurant place mat.
The flight itself was smooth and short, taking only ten minutes to cover closer to 15 miles. I wish it had been longer, but beggars can’t be choosers.
Realistically this was a pure AvGeek adventure for me. But for travelers to Anguilla it’s a much faster and typically smoother ride than the ferry, never mind far cheaper than chartering a speed boat. Plus let’s be honest, the view is much better from above.
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- New England Airlines brings the AvGeek fun on Britten-Norman Islander
All images credited to the author, Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren
