AIRPORT--Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) has drawn widespread international praise for its swift and professional response to the September 7 WestJet accident. What could have been a tragedy instead became a demonstration of coordination, training, and resilience, as emergency crews and airport staff executed their duties well, with as expected, some learning experiences mixed in.
The incident, which saw a WestJet Boeing 737โs landing gear collapse upon arrival, was carried extensively by international media. Major outlets including, but not limited to, CNN, FOX News, Reuters, Associated Press, CBC, CTV, Global News, Aviation Herald, FlightGlobal, Jamaica Observer, Caribbean Loop, Skies Magazine, Caribbean Journal, TravelPulse, and Simple Flying all ran stories on the accident.
While many of these reports highlighted the mechanical failure and accident itself, they also found space to mention the professionalism and speed of PJIAโs emergency response. Numerous additional outlets worldwide carried the story, further amplifying St. Maartenโs handling of the situation. One CBS affiliate noted that "๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐บ ๐๐ต. ๐๐ข๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ".
The rapid deployment of PJIAโs emergency teams was mentioned, as well as other related details such as foam being quickly applied to the runway, and the evacuation being managed in a controlled manner. Aviation observers pointed to the professionalism of airport firefighters, handlers, and support staff as a decisive factor in. Juliana Airport Handlers is the handling company for WestJet.
It was noted that the incident demonstrated how smaller airports can indeed deliver textbook emergency management when properly prepared. The presence and comments of Prime Minister Luc Mercelina and Minister of TEATT Grisha Heyliger-Marten was also mentioned, framing the handling of the incident by the emergency crews and PJIA personnel as a point of national pride.
The commendation was not limited to media reports. PJIA's Facebook age for example, and that of other media outlets, lit up with hundreds of comments praising PJIAโs staff and management for their rapid communication and effective action.
โ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ข ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต โ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ,โ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ: โ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.โ
๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ: โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ฃ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด!โ
๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ: โ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ญ๐ข๐บ-๐ฃ๐บ-๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐บ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐จ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ!โ
๐๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ: โ๐๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ!!โ
The consistent theme across these responses was gratitude and admiration, not only for the airportโs emergency response crews, but also for PJIA's communications team who kept the public informed throughout the ordeal.
The airport is now open for normal operations. PJIAE CEO Michael Cleaver said: "Our teams did very well. We can be proud of them." It appears that the world agrees.
โ
https://tribune-site.webflow.io//articles/pjia-receives-international-praise-for-swift-handling-of-westjet-emergency
