NEW LOOK PUTS AIRPORT IN TOP FLIGHT

State-of-the-art facilities at Queen Beatrix International have lifted the island’s profile

Apart from those on the cruise liners, most visitors to Aruba arrive through the impressively re-designed Queen Beatrix International Airport, the main gateway to the island, which was completed in 2000.
First-time visitors are often pleasantly surprised to find a huge, state-of-the-art international airport, rather than a more typical Caribbean-style facility. The new look is set to raise the profile of Aruba as a hub serving the whole of the region.

Capable of handling the world’s largest aircraft, including Boeing 747s, the airport has a capacity of 2.6 million passengers a year. It is well connected to locations throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and the rest of the Caribbean region.
In addition to the electronic display systems, retail stores and restaurants, you would expect to find at a modern international airport, its dedicated U.S.-bound passenger terminal with full customs and immigration pre-clearance facilities is a welcome convenience for American travelers.

Much of the credit for the completion of the airport rests with Simon Arends, Managing Director of the Aruba Airport Authority (AAA), which manages the complex. A former banker, Mr. Arends was brought in at a time when the money for the airport upgrade was running short.
“They were in phase two of expanding the airport with the bond issue of 1997, but the money was finished and the work was only 60-70 percent completed,” he says. “Even though the construction was finalized, the airport was not operational.”

Within a few months of his taking charge, the authority raised a further $33 million in additional funding, enough to rescue the initiative. Since then, Mr. Arends has overseen a major overhaul of both the airport and the AAA itself, with extensive restructuring, management changes, and improvements to operations, security and other essential areas.
“I only came here for the finance part but, once I was here, circumstances also put me into the operational part,” he says. Under his management, there has been significant progress on security matters. In a recent visit, FBI aviation authorities found no areas of concern. “We have made a lot of changes and we can still make a lot of improvements but it will take a couple more years,” Mr. Arends adds.

The AAA is now looking at ways in which it can take its expertise elsewhere, encouraging collaboration between
neighboring island states. It is examining ways to promote cargo traffic, in conjunction with the free zone, and develop aircraft maintenance operations, as well as simply attracting more passenger traffic. Exploiting the stopover market—from Latin America to the United States—is one possibility that is being explored.