Anguilla (CNN) — There’s no in-flight service. No enterprise class cabin. No sipping Champagne, selecting beef or rooster, or watching a film. At simply eight minutes from takeoff to touchdown, there is not any time for any of that.
There are shorter flights — the hop from Westray to Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands clocks in at simply 90 seconds — however the flight between the Caribbean islands of Anguilla and Sint Maarten is presently the world’s shortest international commercial flight.
So what’s it like?
Connecting two vacation islands
Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory simply 16 miles (25.7 kilometers) lengthy and three.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) huge, is a flat, dry, limestone island fringed by 33 white sand seashores.
It’s a favourite of celebrities searching for a low-key place the place they are often blissfully left alone. No one bats an eyelid right here in the event that they see LeBron James leaping from a rock in Little Bay or Justin Bieber singing “Sorry” on stage with native crooner Bankie Banx.
Its neighbor, Saint Martin, sits simply 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) to the south at its closest level. Split in two, the northern a part of the island is an abroad collectivity of France, whereas the southern half, named Sint Maarten, is a constituent nation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Princess Juliana International Airport in Sint Maarten has turn out to be a vacationer attraction in its personal proper with airliners flying low over the seaside to land on the island, and taking off once more to equally dramatic impact. Search YouTube and you will find a number of movies of vacationers trying to face at the finish of the runway in the face of fierce jet blasts as planes take off.
The flight from the airport to Anguilla is not going to offer anybody the feeling of careening into the sea, although. The twin engines of the Anguilla Air Services Britten-Norman Islanders function at a way more sedate pace.
The flight from Sint Maarten to Anguilla is operated by Anguilla Air Services on a Britten-Norman Islander.
Zuri Wilkes Photography
An essential hyperlink
Relying closely on tourism, most Anguillian households have at least one member working in the business, and this brief flight is essential.
“You cannot promote a five-star destination like Anguilla without an airport,” he says. “If the only way to get to this island is by boat, I don’t think it would be good for our product.”
Regular ferries between Saint Martin and Anguilla had been suspended throughout the pandemic however have since resumed. Most vacationers arrive on the island by pace boat from Sint Maarten, having already taken one or typically two flights to get this far.
From the air, passengers see the southwest tip of Anguilla, with the lengthy sandy curve of Maundays Bay.
Nicola Chilton
On a superb day, it is a ravishing journey that takes round 25 minutes by pace boat, however when the sea is tough, it is a bumpy experience. And Thomas believes that many of holiday makers do not wish to be “knocked about on a boat on the rough sea” on the closing leg of their journey.
While the majority of passengers on the air route have sometimes been vacationers, the pandemic has seen extra Anguillians select to fly, with particular fares for locals out there. With fewer touchpoints in contrast with the boat — no minibus transfers between airport and pier, fewer individuals coming into contact together with your baggage — it has turn out to be a smoother, and in some respects, extra socially distanced choice.
But maybe the greatest benefit of taking the flight is that the views are fascinating from begin to end. This is as a lot a scenic flight because it is an essential connection between two islands.
Up and away
Taking off from Princess Juliana International Airport in Sint Maarten, the plane by no means flies larger than 1,000 ft, with views of turquoise Caribbean waters, the lengthy curves of sandy seashores and splendid non-public villas and resorts.
It would not take lengthy to get off the floor. The airplane takes off to the east over Simpson Bay Lagoon, earlier than banking to the left, crossing over the French aspect of the island and the slim strip of land alongside Rue de Sandy Ground, heading north to make the brief hop throughout to Anguilla.
Crossing over the south coast, residence to shallow bays with names comparable to Auntie Dol, LockRum and Pelican, the airplane swoops low over scrubby floor round Blowing Point, the island’s major — however tiny — port for boats from Saint Martin.
Captain Carl Avery Thomas is a pilot and proprietor of Anguilla Air Services. “Man, I enjoy it,” he says.
Jerome Dupont Photography
From there, it is only a couple extra minutes over the salt ponds of Sandy Ground, well-known for its lengthy strip of sand and seaside bars comparable to Elvis’ and Johnno’s, and low over the highway till the wheels contact down at Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport, simply eight minutes after departing Sint Maarten.
Beyond tourism, Thomas’ plane play one other key position that is important in supporting this historically boating and fishing neighborhood.
“We provide search and rescue services free of charge to the state,” he says. Whenever a fishing boat goes lacking, Thomas and his crew take to the air.
“We’ve always done it, ever since I started the company,” he continues. “It’s a joy when we’re on a search and rescue mission and we find someone.”
The plane are additionally concerned in medical transportation flights and evacuations, being the solely entity on the island outdoors of the hospital with a ventilator. “During Covid, we offer it to the hospital in case it’s needed,” says Thomas.
Taking to the skies
Anguilla could also be dotted with a few of the Caribbean’s prime luxurious accommodations and unique non-public villas, however this is not a rich island.
Coming from a poor household that lived in a valley at the foot of the runway, Thomas labored his method by means of flight coaching in the US Virgin Islands to cowl his charges, by no means having flown earlier than heading to highschool.
“That was the first time I’d ever sat in an airplane. It was a Britten-Norman Islander, made on the Isle of Wight in the UK,” says Thomas. “I was the passenger pushed all the way into the back, but it was OK — I was on an airplane!”
After graduating flight college in 1988, he returned residence to Anguilla.
The flight comes in to land in Sint Maarten over Cupecoy Beach.
Nicola Chilton
“A lot of my friends went on to fly big jets, but I said, ‘No, I’m coming home.’ I just felt that I could help my country. From 1988 up to now, I’m still here and, man, I enjoy it,” he says.
While aviation in Anguilla should be small, with a concentrate on interisland hops, charters and personal jet visitors, extra younger Anguillians are shifting into the business, together with Thomas’ personal kids.
“I have a boy and a girl, and they’re both in flight school in Florida. I never encouraged them to fly, I never took them with me, because I wanted them to choose a career of their own, but both of them are going to be pilots,” he says. “I hope they can continue the legacy.”
And flights to the island are additionally growing. In November, Cape Air launched flights between the US Virgin Islands and Anguilla. And in December, American Airlines launched flights from Miami, the solely scheduled direct flights to the island from the US mainland.
In the peak vacation season, the tarmac at Clayton J. Lloyd International turns into a car parking zone of personal jets.
Whether Thomas’ kids select to comply with their father’s footsteps and are available again to the island or resolve to unfold their wings and fly additional away stays to be seen.
But the eight-minute flight between Anguilla and Sint Maarten will stay an essential hyperlink between these two neighboring territories and a significant a part of this small island’s aviation heritage.
Nicola Chilton is a Yorkshire-born, Dubai-based author contributing to international titles together with Condé Nast Traveler, Departures International, The Times and TIME.