Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport
IATA: PBM – ICAO: SMJP
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (JAPIA) Corporation
Serves		Paramaribo
Location		Zanderij
Elevation AMSL		59 ft / 18 m
Coordinates		05°27′10.19″N 55°11′16.02″W / 5.4528306°N 55.1877833°W / 5.4528306; -55.1877833Coordinates: 05°27′10.19″N 55°11′16.02″W / 5.4528306°N 55.1877833°W / 5.4528306; -55.1877833
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
11/29	11,417	3480	Asphalt

Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport (IATA: PBM, ICAO: SMJP), also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij, 45 km south of Paramaribo. It is Suriname's main international gateway operated by Airport Management, Ltd./ NV Luchthavenbeheer.

Airlines and destinations

Charter

Cargo and destinations

• ABX Air (Miami) operating on behalf of Surinam Airways and Laparkan Shipping
• Amerijet (Port of Spain) operating on behalf of Telesis Aviation

Surinam Airways Flight PY764

On June 7, 1989, a Douglas DC-8 of Surinam Airways from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands crashed during approach to Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, killing 176 of the 187 on-board. The crash was the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among the dead were fifteen Surinamese-Dutch professional football players.

History

Prior to World War II, Zandery Airport was a Pan American World Airways stop. After the fall of the Netherlands to Nazi forces in 1940, the United States obtained military basing rights to the airport from the Netherlands government-in-exile in London. The first American forces arrived at the airport on 30 November 1941 and expanded the facilities to be a transport base for sending Lend-Lease supplies to England via air routes across the South Atlantic Ocean.

With the United States entry into the war in December 1941, the importance of Zandery Field increased drastically, becoming a major transport base on the South Atlantic route of Air Transport Command ferrying supplies and personnel to Freetown Airport, Sierra Leone and onwards to the European and African theaters of the war. In addition, antisubmarine patrols were flown from the airfield over the southern Caribbean and South Atlantic coastlines.

Major USAAF units assigned to the airfield were:

• 35th Bombardment Squadron (25th Bombardment Group) 1 November 1941-7 October 1943 (B-25 Mitchell)

Detachment operated from: Atkinson Field, British Guiana, 1 November 1942-7 October 1943

Detachment operated from: Piarco Airport, Trinidad, 27 August-12 October 1943

• 99th Bombardment Squadron (9th Bombardment Group), 3 December 1941-31 October 1942 (B-18 Bolo)
• 22d Fighter Squadron (36th Fighter Group), 16 September 1942-16 September 1943) (P-39 Aircobras, later P-47 Thunderbolts)
• 23d Antisubmarine Squadron (Trinidad Detachment, Antilles Air Command), 15 August-December 1943 (A-29 Hudson)

With the end of World War II Zandery Airfield was reduced in scope to a skeleton staff. It was closed as a military facility on 30 April 1946 and turned over to Dutch authorities which returned it to a civil airport.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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