Planes come into land so low at St. Maarten airport beachgoers can almost touch the landing gear
- St. Maarten is one of the most beautiful places in the world
- Its airport has some of the most spectacular plane landings
- You can watch one of these scary landings in the video below
Published on Apr 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM (UTC+4)
by Keelin McNamara
Last updated on Apr 17, 2025 at 8:45 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
St. Maarten is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
The Island paradise often serves as a getaway for the rich and famous.
Its airport, Princess Juliana International, is particularly known the world over.
And it’s because it produces some of the most spectacular plane landings of all time.
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So, where exactly is St. Maarten?
St. Maarten is an island with a pretty fascinating origin story.
Located in the north-east of the Caribbean, St. Maarten is part of the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Known as “The Friendly Island”, St. Maarten is actually an island belonging to two countries.
The northern half of the island is an overseas territory of the French Republic.
By contrast, the southern half of the island remains part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In the 1600s, both France and the Netherlands claimed the island for its own empire.
The Treaty of Concordia, signed in 1648, saw the two nations agree to share the island.
Marigot is the name of the capital of the French side (called Saint Martin).
Philipsburg remains the capital of the more populated Dutch side (called Sint Maarten).
The island’s main airport, Princess Juliana International, is located in Sint Maarten, the Dutch half.
Why does the island have such spectacular plane landings?
In case you’ve never seen St. Maarten, allow us to explain the context.
Remember the airport, Princess Juliana International, that we mentioned earlier?
Well, the airport happens to be extremely close to Maho Beach.
In fact, the runway for the airport is unusually close to the shoreline of the beach.
This means that incoming aircraft are forced to fly extremely low and close to the beach on final approach.
These approaches are so low, that sometimes the giant aircraft are as low as 100ft (30m) above the beach.
And, as you can imagine, it makes for some truly spectacular viewing. You can watch it in the video at the top of this story!
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Keelin McNamara is a content writer at Supercar Blondie from Ireland, covering cars, technology, and lifestyle. Despite being a Law graduate, he discovered his passion for journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has worked in the industry ever since. Outside of work, he is an avid MotoGP fan, and is a self-confessed addict of the sport.
