Vintage 1985 Pan Am 747 at PJIA

https://www.google.com/search?q=pan+am+st+maarten&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwifg43I64ndAhWH5YMKHe6-BWcQ_AUIESgB&biw=1366&bih=894#imgrc=lVZwxM1jKD4BzM:


Anybody know who was first to put a 747 into St Maarten? Did KLM or Air France do so before 1985?

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Air France and KLM didn't fly into SXM in the 80's - had to be PanAm

Back in the day there were 3 9ish AM flights JFK/SXM who would race down to be the first to land. AA, Eastern and Pan Am. I flew whoever was cheaper and AA had the audio cockpit feed on one of the channels, it was interesting to listen to ATC decide who was going to land first. Even back in the shorter runway days they took some pretty big planes in there. "Wooden planes and iron pilots"

I'm not going to state this as fact, but for some reason I have long been of the mindset that our very first trip to SXM in 1973 we flew on KLM from JFK and it was definitely NOT a charter, even though we were a decent sized group. For the longest time I held on to the carry-on bag they presented to each member of our group but the last time we cleaned the attic it became 'history' and ended up in the trash finally.

In the early to mid 80's, SilverFox is correct - there was a great deal of friendly competition between the big three carriers and it was often a race as to which of the big three would be the first to depart PJIA for the homeward leg of the trip. I remember those long lines and the commiserating that went on back and forth as to which flight would make it up and out first.

You might be right about KLM. I remember having to fly Air France from JFK to Guadalupe around the same time. When I mentioned that KLM & Air France didn't fly into SXM I was thinking of from Europe. I had a French friend that lived in Grand Case and she had to fly into San Juan or Guadalupe coming from Paris. As for KLM, they flew to Curacao and then people frying onto SXM would take ALM. I'm sure you remember the white planes with the light blue and orange markings. I think ALM was owned by KLM. I know the "A" stood for Antillian and they flew to the ABC islands and SXM. Around that time SXM was not a big travel destination for the Dutch or French.