Cyril E. King Airport

Cyril E. King Airport (STT) is the primary aviation gateway to the U.S. Virgin Islands and, as a U.S. territory airport, one of the few international-style facilities where travellers from the mainland United States arrive without a passport. Located on the south-western shore of St. Thomas island, 3 km (2 mi) west of Charlotte Amalie at 23 ft (7 m) elevation, the airport is squeezed between the hills of the Estate Lindbergh Bay and the Caribbean Sea. A single 7,000-ft (2,134-m) asphalt runway 10/28 is approached directly over the sea and was extended over water in the 1980s to enable mainland U.S. narrowbody jet service. STT handles 49 routes to 33 destinations on 15 airlines (2026), with American Airlines, Delta, United, JetBlue, Spirit, Sun Country and Frontier offering non-stops to major U.S. hubs including Miami, Atlanta, New York-JFK, Newark, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, Boston and Philadelphia, plus Minneapolis and Chicago in winter peaks. British Airways reopened London Heathrow service in 2023 as the airport's flagship trans-Atlantic route. Regional carriers Cape Air, Silver Airways and Tradewind connect onward to St. Croix, Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Anguilla. The airport is named after the U.S. Virgin Islands' first elected governor (1969-1975) and is operated by the Virgin Islands Port Authority. Traffic is highly seasonal: the mid-December to April high season routinely doubles daily movements as direct cruise-passenger air arrivals and villa tourists surge. A 2021 post-Hurricane Irma terminal refit and the 2024 approach-lighting rehabilitation have restored STT's capacity to handle roughly 2 million passengers per year. STT is also a notable general-aviation destination, with substantial private-jet traffic to the West Indian Company Limited (WICO) mega-yacht harbour at Havensight and to the Trellis Bay seaplane base in the British Virgin Islands. The airport supports U.S. Customs and Border Protection pre-clearance for onward travel into the neighbouring BVI territory, and is an official Federal Aviation Administration Part 139 Class I facility.