Mercedita Airport
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Mercedita Airport in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is a medium sized airport which is able to accept jets of any size on its runways. Its IATA Airport Code is PSE.
During its heyday, Mercedita used to receive L-1011 jets from Eastern Airlines and DC-10 jets from American Airlines from the United States. It also had extensive domestic service by Prinair each day.
On June 24, 1972, Prinair Flight 191, which took off from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, crashed while attempting to land at Mercedita Airport.
The bigger airlines and jets eventually left, but Prinair kept on flying there until it ceased operations in 1984. Eastern Airlines then returned in 1985, with their smaller planes flying under the banner name Eastern Metro Express flying several times daily from Eastern's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport hub. American Airlines followed suit soon, also flying smaller planes under the name of American Eagle once the San Juan airport became a hub for American too.
During the 1990s, jets returned briefly, with American starting Airbus A300 service from Newark, and Continental Airlines also flying from Newark, on Boeing 757s. Carnival Airlines operated the first intra-Puerto Rican jet service to Mercedita during the 1990s also, flying Boeing 727's from Rafael Hernandez Airport in Aguadilla, in addition to service from New York.
In addition, Vieques Air Link has offered service there.
After Ponce's mayor Rafael Cordero signed a contract to build a major seaport in the area, Mercedita's directors, expecting a grow in airline traffic, decided to expand the airport's runway to 8,000 feet. The runway is currently being expanded.
On June 17, 2005, jetBlue Airways began daily, non-stop service between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Mercedita Airport. With this new service, jetBlue becomes the only major U.S. carrier to provide a direct flight from the mainland United States and Ponce.
Airline service to Mercedita is provided currently by: