Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 04:52, 5 August 2003

Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico is the island's main international gateway, and its main connection to the United States. Intra-island flights fly between San Juan and various local points of interest, including Ponce and Vieques. Its IATA Airport Cpde is SJU.

Located in the area known as Isla Verde, the airport was, for many decades, known as Isla Verde International Airport, until 1985, when then Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon decided to name it after Luis Munoz Marin, Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor.

The airport served as a Caribbean hub for Pan Am, Trans-Caribbean, and Eastern Airlines. It was also the hub of Puerto Rico's international airline, Prinair, from the airline's start in 1966 to 1984, when Prinair went bankrupt. From 1987 on, it became American Airlines' hub to the area.

In the past, the airport has been served by Mexicana, Aerolineas Argentinas, Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Viasa, Dominicana De Aviacion and many other important airlines.

Various celebrities have been welcomed to Puerto Rico at this airport, including Menudo in 1981, after the group came back from touring Mexico; the boxer Felix Trinidad in 1999, after he defeated Oscar De La Hoya, and Pope John Paul II in 1984.

In 1970, a Dominicana De Aviacion DC-9 that was flying to Luis Munoz Marin crashed shortly after takeoff from Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, killing everyone on board, including Puerto Rico's national women's volleyball team and Dominican Carlos Cruz, a world boxing champion who was going to San Juan to defend his crown versus Carlos Ortiz.

In 1985, an American Airlines DC-10 taking off from Munoz Marin to JFK International Airport in New York overran the runway and nosedived into a nearby lake. Everybody avoided injury.

Airlines serving Luis Muñoz Marín International include:

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 *[[Air Sunshine]]
 *American Airlines
-*[[American Eagle]]
 *[[American Trans Air|ATA]]
 *[[Britannia]]
 *[[Copa]]
-*[[Cape Air]]
+*[[Cape Air]] dba [[Continental Connection]]
 *[[Caribbean Sun]]
 *[[Condor Flugndeist]]
 *[[Continental Airlines]]
 *[[Delta Airlines]]
+*[[Executive Air]] dba [[American Eagle]]
 *[[Iberia Airlines]]
 *[[Isla Nena]]