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Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (located in Carolina, Puerto Rico) is the island's main international gateway, and its main connection to the mainland United States. Intra-island flights fly between Carolina and various local points of interest, including Aguadilla, Culebra, Mayagüez, Ponce and Vieques.
It is a common mistake to say that the location of the airport is in San Juan, the capital of the island, though it is nearby.
The airport serves as the Caribbean hub for American Airlines and American Eagle.
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History
Located in the area known as Isla Verde, the airport was, for many decades, known as Isla Verde International Airport, until 1985, when then Governor Rafael Hernández Colón decided to name it after Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor.
The airport served as a Caribbean hub for Pan Am, Trans-Caribbean, Eastern Airlines, and a short lived "focus city" for TWA. It was also the hub of Puerto Rico's international airline, Prinair, from the airline's start in 1966 to 1984, when Prinair went bankrupt. In 1986, American Airlines (along with American Eagle) established a hub in the airport to compete with Eastern Airlines. In the past, the airport has been served by Mexicana, Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Viasa, Dominicana De Aviacion and many other important airlines.
Various celebrities have been welcomed to Puerto Rico at this airport, including Menudo in 1981, after the group came back from touring Mexico; the boxer Félix Trinidad in 1999, after he defeated Oscar De La Hoya, and Pope John Paul II in 1984. Miss Universe 2003, Amelia Vega, held a press conference at the airport after her arrival on October of that year.
Disasters
On February 15, 1970, a Dominicana de Aviacion DC-9 that was flying to Isla Verde crashed shortly after takeoff from Las Americas International Airport in Punta Caucedo, Dominican Republic, near Santo Domingo, killing everyone on board, including Puerto Rico's national women's volleyball team and Dominican Carlos Cruz, a former world boxing champion who was going to San Juan for a rematch with Carlos Ortiz. See: Dominicana DC-9 air disaster
On June 24, 1972, Prinair Flight 191, which took off from Isla Verde Airport, crashed while attempting to land at Mercedita Airport in Ponce.
On December 31 of that same year, baseball star Roberto Clemente and his companions died when their DC-3 crashed soon after takeoff from Isla Verde during a relief flight bound for Nicaragua. Neither the bodies of the victims nor the plane's wreckage were ever found.
In 1983, a hijacked Alitalia DC-10 landed at this airport, under orders by the hijacker.
In 1985, an American Airlines DC-10 taking off from Muñoz Marín to JFK International Airport in New York overran the runway and nosedived into a nearby lake. Everybody avoided injury.
On May 9, 2004 an American Eagle Super ATR, flight 5401, crash-landed when of the tires popped. Twenty-six people were injured, but no fatalities.
Terminals and airlines
The Luis Muñoz Marín Airport has three terminals: Terminal A, the Main Terminal and the American Airlines Terminal. Terminal A is currently in construction. Previously, the airport had a different layout which called the different concourses as Terminals B, C and D, but the new signing around the airport has changed this.
The Main Terminal houses Concourse B and Concourse C while the American Airlines Terminal houses Concourse D and Concourse E. All airlines except American Airlines and American Eagle check in the Main Terminal. American Airlines and American Eagle check in the American Airlines Terminal.
Terminal A
In construction...
Concourse B
- Spirit Airlines -- Gates 23, 25
- Northwest Airlines -- Gates 32, 33
- Air Canada and United -- Gate 34
- ATA -- Gate 35
- US Airways and Pan Am -- Gates 36, 37, 38
- Delta Air Lines / Song -- Gates 39, 40, 41
- Cape Air
- Caribbean Sun
- TransMeridian Airlines
Concourse C
- Copa Airlines -- Gate 20
- JetBlue Airways -- Gate 22
- Britannia and Iberia -- Gates 26, 27
- Continental Airlines -- Gates 28, 29
Concourse D
- American Airlines -- Gates 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
Concourse E
- American Eagle -- Gates 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 2
- American Airlines -- Gates 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Unknown
- Air Atlanta Icelandic
- Air Culebra
- Air Santo Domingo
- Air St. Thomas
- Air Sunshine
- Condor Airlines
- Isla Nena
- LIAT
- San Juan Aviation
- Ted starts Oct. 23
- TACA
- Vieques Air Link
es:Aeropuerto Internacional Luis Muñoz Marín
External links
- Official website (http://apprportal.prpa.gobierno.pr/servlet/page?_pageid=70&_dad=portal30&_schema=PORTAL30&_type=site&_fsiteid=54&_fid=3244&_fnavbarid=1&_fnavbarsiteid=54&_fedit=0&_fmode=2&_fdisplaymode=1&_fcalledfrom=1&_fdisplayurl=) (Spanish only)
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Copyright note
Photo copyrighted by, and courtesy of, Mr. Joe Pries and his website, auctiontransportation.com