Bequia
J.F. Mitchell Airport
- IATA
- BQU
- ICAO
- TVSB
- Runway
- 12 / 30
- Length
- 1,100 m
- Elevation
- 4.6 m
- Position
- 12°59′18″N 61°15′43″W
One stop down the chain.
Bequia lies 22 km (12 nm) from Argyle on the mainland, reached by the short-haul aircraft that work the island chain.
- From Argyle
- 22km
- Nautical
- 12nm
Runways across the network
An island of sailors that reclaimed the ground for its own runway.
Until the 1990s, reaching Bequia meant the ferry across the channel from Kingstown. In 1990 a land-reclamation project began at Paget Farm on the island's southwestern tip, winning enough flat ground from the shoreline to lay a runway on an island that had almost none.
J.F. Mitchell Airport opened on 15 May 1992, named for Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell — Bequian by birth, Premier and later Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the driving force behind the island's link to the air.
It remains a small field by design: a 1,100-metre strip taking turboprops and light aircraft, with an apron that holds two ATR-sized aircraft or five smaller ones at a time.
- 7sq mi Island area
- 5,500people Resident population
- 100yachts Admiralty Bay anchorage
- 1992 Airport opened
One of the finest anchorages in the Caribbean.
Most visitors arriving at Paget Farm are heading for the water. Admiralty Bay is a broad, sheltered harbour on the island's northwest coast with room for around a hundred yachts, and it has been a fixture of Eastern Caribbean cruising for decades.
Ashore, Port Elizabeth's waterfront runs to chandlers, market stalls, and the long-standing bars and kitchens along Front Street. The Princess Margaret Trail follows the coast from Fort Hamilton around to Lower Bay.
Aerodrome data
- IATA / ICAO
- BQU / TVSB
- Runway
- 12 / 30 · asphalt
- Runway length
- 1,100 m — 3,609 ft
- Elevation
- 4.6 m — 15 ft
- Coordinates
- 12°59′18″N 61°15′43″W
- Opened
- 15 May 1992
- Apron
- Two ATR-sized or five light aircraft
- Named for
- Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell