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Flamingo International Airport or Bonaire International Airport is an international airport located at Kralendijk, Bonaire, Netherlands. The Flamingo Airport serves as a connecting point for flights of KLM to some airports in South America. Flamingo airport once served as a hub for BonaireExel, BonaireExpress, CuraçaoExel and CuraçaoExpress. It now serves the Dutch Antilles Express as its secondary hub, along with Insel Air, for its flights to and from Miami, Florida. EZAir also serves Bonaire with flights to Curacao. Flamingo Airport is the third largest airport in the former Netherlands Antilles, behind St.Maarten's Princess Juliana International Airport and Curacao's Hato International Airport and is the fourth largest between the Caribbean islands of the Dutch Kingdom behind the already mentioned St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba's Queen Beatrix International Airport. Arkefly, United, Delta and KLM are currently the largest airline operators that operate scheduled flights to Bonaire. The Flamingo Airport is large enough to accommodate most international wide-body airliners such as the Boeing 747, the Boeing 777, and the Airbus A340, although the largest wide-body type to operate to Bonaire today is the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (which are being replaced by A330's), flown by KLM. This airport is used by medium-sized airliners such as the Boeing 727, Boeing 737, and Airbus A310. == History == Bonaire's first airport was located near Tra'i Montaña Subi Blanku and walked across the current path of Kralendijk to Rincon. It was only a landing strip and a shelter. It was built in 1936 and is considered the place that is the beginning of aviation on Bonaire.〔History of Flamingo Airport on the airports (official website ) , visited on 16 June 2008〕 The construction work for this airport began on September 23, 1935. The intention was to make a longer runway, but it proved impossible to accommodate for more than 475 meters, because the eastern portion of the land was very low. Part of the field had to be modified, in particular where the plane hit the ground during landing and take-off. This area covered more than 100 metres of the runway, and had to be paved with a mixture of sand and stone. KLM decided on May 9, 1936, to take the risk and fly the first flight to Bonaire from Curaçao. The Oriol (Fokker F-XVIII "Snip"), was chosen for this test. The first experimental landing was successful and also a historic moment. KLM made the first official flight with passengers on May 31, 1936. American soldiers arrived on Bonaire in the second half of 1943 and their commander stated that a new airport had to be built. In December 1943, construction began in the vicinity of where the airport is today. The new airport, named "Flamingo Airport", was put into use in 1945. This was a big step forward for Bonaire and its aviation system. A small terminal was built that was suitable for the number of passengers at the time. This building was used until 1976. The construction of a new runway began in the last months of 1953 and was completed in 1955. The small terminal had been extended with a terrace where luggage could be delivered. The runway was extended and expanded several times. In 1960, the runway had a length of 1430 meters and a width of 30 meters. Hotels and interested parties on the island continued to push for a further extension of the runway so that charter flights from the United States were able to land here. Those flights were often performed with DC8 or B707 aircraft. In 1970 the runway was extended to a length of 1750 meters and a width of 30 meters, enough for a DC9 to land and take-off with full load. On June 7, 1974, a public tender for the construction of a new terminal building was made. The building became operational in 1976. Meanwhile, hotels and foreign investors continued to insist that the runway be extended further. This was needed before any more hotels could be built. In 1980 the runway was again extended to 2400 meter long and 45 meters wide, and in 2000 another extension resulted in the current length of 2880 meter to facilitate the largest airliners on intercontinental flights. The Dutch national carrier, KLM, used the airport to refuel planes en route from Amsterdam to Ecuador using MD-11 between 2000 and 2011. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Flamingo International Airport」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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