Mercedita International Airport

Mercedita International Airport (PSE) is the principal airport of Ponce and the southern coast of Puerto Rico, sited on a former sugar-mill estate about 5 mi (8 km) east of the city centre. Operated by Aerostar Airport Holdings under the same concession that runs San Juan's SJU, Mercedita holds U.S. federal airport designation and is classified by the FAA as a commercial-service primary airport. The field has a single 6,000 ft (1,829 m) runway and a compact terminal that handles daily JetBlue, Frontier and seasonal Allegiant services to Orlando (MCO), Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and New York area airports, serving a catchment that spans Ponce, Yauco, Guayanilla and the southern half of the island. PSE's existence is strategically important because it shortens travel for southern-Puerto-Rican residents who would otherwise have to cross the Cordillera Central to reach SJU, and it acts as a relief field for medical and emergency operations during hurricane season. Among Caribbean regional airports Mercedita ranks as one of the few U.S.-soil fields outside the San Juan metropolitan area offering scheduled mainland jet service, a profile it shares only with Aguadilla (BQN). The airport has also developed a cargo role through integrated freight operators serving the pharmaceutical and manufacturing clusters around Ponce, and its runway can accommodate emergency diversion traffic from wider Caribbean operations.