Queen Beatrix International Airport(IATA: AUA, ICAO: TNCA) (Dutch: Internationale luchthaven Koningin Beatrix; Papiamento: Aeropuerto Internacional Reina Beatrix) is an international airport located in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. It has flight services to the United States, Canada, several countries in the Caribbean, the northern coastal countries of South America, as well as some parts of Europe, notably the Netherlands. It is named after Beatrix of the Netherlands, who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.
The airport originally served as main hub for Air Aruba until its bankruptcy in 2000. Before Aruba's separation from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986 it was also one of three hubs for ALM Antillean Airlines as well as home base for Tiara Air until 2016.
A terminal for private aircraft opened in 2007.
Since 2013 the airport is home to Aruba Airlines. The airline has three Airbus A320 family aircraft and two Bombardier CRJ200. The main focus of Aruba Airlines is connecting the region through its hub.
History
The airport in 1973
In 1934, Manuel Viana launched a weekly mail and passenger service between Aruba and Curaçao, with A.J. Viccellio piloting Loening C-2H Air Yacht PJ-ZAA from a mud-flat runway. Commercial services were taken over by KLM from 24 December 1934. Later[when?] they were transferred to a graded runway known as the KLM field.[3] KLM's Snip, the PJ-AIS a Fokker tri-motor, ushered in the scheduled flying age in Aruba on 19 January 1935. Together with the KLM's “Oriol”, the PJ-AIO, also a three-engine Fokker, they flew until 1946, after which they were scrapped. On its bi-weekly Aruba-Curaçao operations, KLM transported 2,695 passengers on 471 flights.[3]
During World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air ForcesSixth Air Force defending Caribbean shipping and the Panama Canal against German submarines.[3] The airfield was renamed Dakota Field; the terminal facilities became Dakota Airport.[3] Flying units assigned to the airfield were:
On 22 October 1955, the airport was named after Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands during a royal visit. It was renamed in 1980 after her accession to the throne.[3]
On 3 March 2021, American Airlines celebrated its 50 years flying to and from Aruba.[4]
Aruba was late to implementing baggage handling advanced enough to relieve U.S.-bound passengers of the traditional legal requirement of physically walking their baggage through U.S. customs inspection. For several decades, this forced U.S.-bound passengers to undergo a time-consuming preclearance procedure: they had to check in baggage, pass through Aruba primary airport security screening followed by Aruba exit customs, then reclaim checked baggage, walk it through immigration and customs inspections at the Customs and Border Protection port of entry, recheck their baggage, pass through a secondary security screening in accordance with U.S. standards, and then proceed to their departure gates.
As part of Phase 1A of Gateway 2030, a massive airport expansion project, the airport built a new U.S. Check-In Terminal with sufficiently advanced baggage handling equipment, thereby relieving U.S.-bound passengers of the burden of reclaiming baggage and undergoing another screening. The first flights began from the new terminal on April 8, 2025.[5]
Airlines and destinations
The air traffic control towerThe baggage claim areaWelcome signThe non-USA departures buildingWalkway to security and US pre-clearance facilities
^1KLM's flights operate to and from Bonaire on selected days.
^2TUI Airlines Netherlands' flights operate between Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao on selected days. However, the airline does not have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers solely between Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
^3Winair's flights operate between Aruba and Sint Maarten via Curaçao on selected days.
On 13 January 2010, an Arkefly Boeing 767-300 (registration PH-AHQ), operating Flight 361 from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Queen Beatrix International Airport, declared an emergency after a man claimed to have a bomb on board. A struggle with the flight crew ensued, and the aircraft made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport, Ireland. Gardaí stormed the plane and arrested the man; he was taken to Shannon Garda police station. A passenger who had recently had surgery collapsed in the terminal while waiting for the continuation of the flight, and had to be taken to a local hospital. The replacement aircraft, PH-AHY, also a Boeing 767-300, continued the flight to Aruba. [citation needed]
Maurer Maurer (1 January 1982). Air Force Combat Units of World War II: History and Insignia. Zenger Publishing Company, Incorporated. ISBN978-0-89201-092-9.
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