Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Before 1990, St. Thomas’ aviation offering was in the form of a naval hangar built in the 1940s. Originally named Harry S. Truman Airport, it was renamed in 1984 in honor of former USVI Gov. Cyril E. King. St. Croix’s airport, on the other hand, was originally named after Alexander Hamilton, the Nevis-born founding father who grew up on St. Croix. It was renamed in 1996 in honor of Henry E. Rohlsen, an African-American World War II pilot and island political figure.
With the airport code STT, Cyril E. King Airport was completed in 1990 and is on the southwest side of St. Thomas, 4 miles east of the capital, Charlotte Amalie. Airlines serving St. Thomas included American Airlines, Delta, United, U.S. Airways and Spirit, as of publication in July 2013. Regional carriers included Air Sunshine, American Eagle, Cape Air to St. Croix, LIAT and Vieques Air Link. Most flights go through Puerto Rico. The airport is one of the busiest in the eastern Caribbean, operating 24 hours, but the terminal, which has 11 gates, is closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. The airport covers 280 acres with a single 7,000 foot runway and has two restaurants, a beauty salon, shop, liquor store and ATM.
Apart from an American Airlines flight to Miami, most traffic from St. Croix is regional. St Croix (STX) served by Henry E. Rohlsen Airport, completed in 2003, with service from American Airlines, American Eagle, Cape Air, Coast Air, Delta, LIAT, Seaborne, JetBlue, U.S. Airways and Vieques Air Link, as of July 2013. The airport is on the southwest side of St. Croix and is closed from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. The runway is 10,004 feet long and the airport – a fairly bare-bones affair - has a gift shop, food concession, facilities for the disabled and three car rental kiosks.
The Seaborne Airlines seaplane, the quickest link between St. Thomas and St. Croix and a throwback to the golden age of air travel, takes just 25 minutes to complete the 44-mile flight from Charlotte Amalie to Christiansted and offers more than 30 flights a day. The Seaplane base is at the seaport in downtown Charlotte Amalie. Seaborne also runs a shuttle service from St. Thomas to Vieques, San Juan and St. Croix on conventional aircraft. All Seaplane flights, which are 15-passenger Twin Otters with WipLine floats, have two engines and two pilots.