AIRPORT--Princess Juliana International Airport operating company PJIAE President Eugene Holiday lauded the airport's continued efforts to ensure its readiness and its compliance with international safety standards at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs). The ceremony also served to mark the diversion of the airport road east of the runway as a result of the RESAs.

According to international and national regulation, all airports serving international flights must have RESAs that extend from both ends of a runway. The introduction of RESAs was mandated by Federal Decree on April 24, 2003.

"We at PJIAE have, as a result, been working towards realising the introduction of RESAs at PJIA ever since. To meet the required safety standard, we must introduce runway end safety areas of 150 metres at both ends of our runway," Holiday said.

RESAs are primarily intended to reduce the risk of damage to an airplane undershooting or overrunning the runway, and thus to save lives. An overrun occurs when an aircraft passes beyond the end of the runway during an aborted takeoff or while landing.

To comply with these safety requirements, PJIAE had embarked in 2003 on the execution of a phased approach, taking land constraints into account, aimed at bringing the airport to a point where it complied with international and national safety standards for RESAs. The phased approach featured an intermediate and a long-term solution.

The intermediate solution entailed obtaining approval from the government to move the airport perimeter fence about five meters to the east, to prepare the area inside the airport fence. The runway markings were repainted, and the runway thresholds and end lights were realigned. That project had been completed in October 2004, allowing PJIAE to meet the requirement on one end of the runway.

In preparation for the long-term and final solution, Holiday said, two major capital investment projects had already been completed.

"The first capital investment entailed the reclamation of about 36,000 square metres of land east of the runway into Simpson Bay Lagoon; that is the land on which we currently stand. That work was completed in 2005 and consisted of an investment of some US $1.3 million," he said.

"The second capital investment comprised the relocation of the jetty and ramp mentioned earlier. That project was completed in 2009 at a cost of US $500,000. The intermediate solution, as well as these two projects, was financed out of the cash flow of PJIAE," he added.

The commencement of work on Monday will consist of the following main elements: first, the diversion of the existing airport road, including utilities, along the shorelines of the filled-in area; second, the construction of a drainage system to provide for a proper run-off of rain water from the area; third, the relocation of the airport perimeter fencing; fourth, the condemning of the existing road; fifth, the extension of the runway and installation of a new turning pad to the north, as opposed to the current turning pad to the south; and finally, the shifting of the runway declared distances for takeoff and landing, including the re-painting of the runway markings and re-alignment of the runway thresholds and runway-end lights on both ends of the runway.

The project represents an investment of almost US $8.7 million and is expected to be completed in eight months. The project will be executed by contractor MNO Vervat.

Holiday went on to make special mention of his staff, who had worked on this project in one way or the other, "but in particular I must single out three of my staff who have been instrumental in helping me bring the project to this stage, namely: Migdala Artsen-Clarinda, Mirto Breell, and Derek Hilman."

Commissioner in charge of Aviation Affairs Frans Richardson congratulated PJIA management, recognised the pioneers of airport services who had laid the groundwork for PJIA to grow to its current status in the region, and emphasised that, with the RESA project, St. Maarten continued to show to the world that it took the safety and security of its visitors very seriously.