Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base

Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base St. Croix Seaplane Base
IATA: SSB ICAO: none FAA LID: VI32
Summary
Airport type	Private
Owner	Virgin Islands Port Authority
Location	Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Elevation AMSL	0 ft / 0 m
Coordinates	17°44′50″N 64°42′18″W
Map
SSB Location in the Saint Croix Show map of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands SSB SSB (the U.S. Virgin Islands) Show map of the U.S. Virgin Islands
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m E/W 7,000 2,134 Water
Statistics (2005)
Enplanements 68,386
Source: Federal Aviation Administration[1]

Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base (IATA: SSB, FAA LID: VI32), also known as St. Croix Seaplane Base, is located in the harbor by Christiansted, Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This private-use airport is owned by the Virgin Islands Port Authority.^[1] The sea base is home to Seaborne Airlines U.S. Virgin Islands, the only multi-engine sea plane airline operating in the United States.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, this seaplane base had 72,632 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2004 and 68,386 enplanements in 2005.^[2]

Facilities

Christiansted Harbor Seaplane Base has one seaplane landing area:

• Runway E/W: 7,000 ft × 600 ft (2,134 m × 183 m), surface: Water

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Seaborne Airlines	St. Thomas–Harbor

Historically, Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle operated scheduled passenger service during the 1980s from the Charlotte Amalie seaplane base with Grumman Mallard aircraft. These Grumman amphibious aircraft were powered either by piston engines or by turboprop engines via a powerplant conversion program.^[3] During the 1970s, Antilles Air Boats operated several different types of seaplanes in scheduled passenger service from the harbor as well including the Consolidated PBY Catalina (Super Catalina version), Grumman Goose, Short Sandringham (S-25) and Vought Sikorsky VS-44, and Grumman Mallard.^[4]

Both Antilles Airboats and The Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle flew to St. Thomas, San Juan, and St. John, with Antilles Airboats serving Fajardo.^[5] Today, Seaborne Airlines U.S. Virgin Islands operates De Havilland Twin Otter DHC-6-300s on floats for daily airline service to St Thomas.

References

1. FAA Airport Form 5010 for VI32 PDF, retrieved 2007-03-15
2. FAA Passenger Boarding and All-Cargo Data: 2005
3. http://www.airliners.net, photos of Grumman Mallard aircraft operated by Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle in the U.S. Virgin Islands
4. http://www.airliners.net, photos of Antilles Air Boats aircraft in the U.S. Virgin Islands
5. Morris, Molly (September 4, 2001). "Seaborne to Fly to Old San Juan - And More". St. Thomas Source. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2015.

External links

• Airport information for VI32 at AirNav
• Aeronautical chart and airport information for VI32 at SkyVector
• Accident history for SSB at Aviation Safety Network