Private jet from New York to St. Barths: the St. Maarten connection, times and prices

How the trip works

St. Barths has one of the most famous runways in the world, and no private jet can use it. According to the French aeronautical publication for the airport:

• The runway. It is 646 meters long and 18 meters wide, about 2,119 by 59 feet.
• Weight. The pavement is limited to aircraft of 5.7 tonnes.
• Approach and departure. The approach is non-standard and steep. Take-offs toward the hills, on runway 28, are prohibited.
• Pilots. Pilots need a local qualification recognised by an instructor and must stay current by flying there.
• Operators. Commercial operators need a separate authorisation.

The aircraft that fly in are turboprops: Cessna Grand Caravans, Pilatus PC-12s and 19-seat Twin Otters.

So the trip has two parts:

1. A jet from Teterboro to Princess Juliana International (SXM) on the Dutch side of St. Maarten. That’s 1,478 nautical miles and about 3 hours 45 minutes in a light jet.
2. A 15-minute turboprop flight across 17 nautical miles to St. Barths.

AIN has reported that at peak, St. Maarten sees up to 100 private jet arrivals a day, and that about 80% of those passengers continue to St. Barths.

What goes into the price

The jet leg. About 3.6 hours of flight time each way at the operator’s rate. A one-way trip usually also carries some or all of the aircraft’s empty return, unless it stays or has a trip waiting in the Caribbean.

International taxes. A flight from the US to St. Maarten is international, so the 7.5% excise tax doesn’t apply to it. Instead, the US international arrival and departure tax applies: $23.40 per passenger for each US departure and arrival in 2026.

Fees at St. Maarten. Handling, landing and the private terminal’s charges. The airport doesn’t publish them, so they are quoted per trip. All private aircraft need landing clearance and slot approval in advance, usually arranged by the FBO.

The connection. Three ways to make it:

• Scheduled seats. Winair fares from St. Maarten to St. Barths start around $204 one way.
• A private turboprop. St Barth Commuter quotes private charters per trip and charges €200 for any change after confirmation.
• Meet and assist. Help with bags and the transfer is available separately.

Crew costs. If the jet waits for you in the Caribbean, there are crew hotel and per diem costs. For a week or more, it usually goes home and comes back.

What makes this route cheaper or more expensive

The holidays. Christmas to New Year’s is the peak. St Barths’ airport recorded its busiest-ever day, 284 aircraft movements, on January 2. Its main connection operator treats December 1 to January 31 as peak for meet-and-assist pricing. Seats on the connecting flights sell out, and jets to St. Maarten are in short supply.

The season. St Barth Commuter’s high season runs November 15 to April 30. Outside it, aircraft and connections are easier to find.

Direction. In December, jets go south full and often come back empty, and in January the reverse. One-way trips in the busy direction usually carry some of that positioning cost.

Empty legs to and from the Caribbean

Empty legs are flights an operator makes anyway, sometimes offered at a discount. Charter Jet One says the discount can reach 75% off a custom charter. Because so many jets bring passengers to St. Maarten and then head home, there is a natural flow of northbound empty legs in the season. That’s an inference from the traffic pattern, not a published statistic.

An illustrative example: a midsize jet drops a family at St. Maarten on December 27 and is due back at Teterboro the same evening. A traveller heading home that day could fly it for less. It shows how these flights come about; it isn’t one you can book. Empty legs run on someone else’s schedule, which is hard to match with a sunset deadline at the other end.

Departing from Teterboro

Teterboro is 12 miles or so from Midtown, about 22 minutes without traffic. Its runways are 6,997 and 6,014 feet. It has customs on the field for your return, open 7:30 am to 11:15 pm daily.

Departure time matters more on this route than any other. Work back from sunset on St. Barths:

• Allow 15 minutes for the hop.
• Allow at least an hour at St. Maarten for immigration and the transfer.
• Allow about 3 hours 45 minutes for the jet.
• Remember that St. Maarten is an hour ahead of New York in winter.

In December, that puts a sensible Teterboro departure around 9 or 10 am.

Arriving in St. Maarten

The airport. Princess Juliana International (SXM) has a 2,300-meter runway, about 7,546 feet. Hurricane Irma heavily damaged the main terminal in 2017. It was rebuilt and recommissioned in November 2024, and a new private aviation terminal opened in November 2025.

The FBOs. There are two: ExecuJet by Atlantic Aviation and Signature Aviation. Both are in the private terminal west of the main terminal.

Immigration. The airport says all passengers and crew on private flights must clear customs and immigration on arrival, inside the private terminal. The well-known transit desk that lets you skip immigration is for airline passengers travelling with hand luggage only. We haven’t found any arrangement that lets private jet passengers skip immigration, and we won’t promise one.

The ED card. Sint Maarten requires everyone arriving to fill in an Embarkation-Disembarkation form, including passengers in transit, one per person. It’s free on the official site, entry.sx. Other sites charge for it and should be avoided. The US State Department warns that travellers who don’t complete it may be denied entry.

The connection to St. Barths

Scheduled flights.

• St Barth Commuter flies Cessna Grand Caravans. It sets a minimum connection of 1 hour 15 minutes from an international arrival. Bags: 23 kg checked plus 12 kg carry-on, nothing over 32 kg, and no sports items over 120 cm.
• Winair flies scheduled services too. Its fleet includes 19-seat Twin Otters.

Private turboprop. St Barth Commuter can have a Grand Caravan waiting for your jet. On a private charter the limit is 210 kg (463 lb) of bags for up to seven people, with no single piece over 80 by 60 by 35 cm. That limit is the detail that catches people out: a family that fills a midsize jet’s baggage hold will not fit it all in a Caravan. Bring soft bags, pack light or send some bags by ferry.

Ferries. If you miss the sunset deadline:

• Voyager sails from Marigot to Gustavia in about an hour, with a late sailing listed at 6:55 pm.
• Great Bay Express sails from Philipsburg in about 45 minutes.

Ferries take more luggage than the small aircraft. Schedules change, so we confirm them on the day.

Helicopter. On-demand helicopter charters fly from neighbouring islands in a five-seat Airbus AS350.

Grand Case. The French side’s airport, Grand Case (SFG), also has flights to St. Barths, but its runway is 1,202 meters, it is day VFR only and handling must be booked 48 hours ahead. It suits people already staying on St. Martin more than a jet arriving from New York.

Arriving on St. Barths

The St. Barths airport, Saint-Barthélemy Rémy de Haenen, is 800 meters from Gustavia. It sometimes still goes by its old name, Gustaf III. Several points matter:

• Hours. It opens at 7 am local time and closes 15 minutes after sunset. Night landings are prohibited.
• Sunset. Our estimates are about 5:35 pm in mid-November, 5:40 pm in late December, 5:55 pm in mid-January, 6:10 pm in mid-February and 6:25 pm in April.
• Ramp. There are 15 parking spots, a stand limit of about 10 minutes at peak, and no fuel.
• Customs. French customs operates on weekdays and Saturday mornings.

Other gateways

Gateway	Flight to St. Barths	Why use it
San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU)	About 55 to 60 minutes by PC-12	The jet leg from Teterboro is domestic, with no foreign immigration on the way down. Coming home, you clear US customs at San Juan, then fly on to Teterboro as a domestic flight. Tradewind handles private transfers at San Juan’s Jet Aviation FBO.
Antigua (ANU)	About 35 minutes	A longer runway and an alternative when St. Maarten is busy. Tradewind flies it on a schedule.
St. Maarten (SXM)	About 15 minutes	The shortest hop and the most connections.

None of these is US customs preclearance: CBP’s only preclearance sites in the Caribbean are Nassau, Bermuda and Aruba.

Documents, pets and coming home

Passports.

• The US State Department asks for a passport valid at least six months beyond your arrival, with a blank page.
• No visa is needed for stays under 90 days.
• The 12-page emergency passport is not accepted for France.

ETIAS doesn’t apply. St. Barths is a French overseas collectivity outside the Schengen area. Europe’s ETIAS and entry-exit systems apply to France excluding its overseas territories.

Pets.

• On the connection. St Barth Commuter carries a cat or dog in the cabin, one per passenger, up to 8 kg, in a soft carrier no larger than 43 by 35 by 24 cm.
• On St. Maarten. Animals entering or transiting St. Maarten need an import permit, applied for up to four days before the flight.
• France. USDA’s guidance for France calls for a microchip, a rabies vaccination at least 21 days before travel and an EU health certificate endorsed by the USDA. USDA doesn’t publish separate rules for St. Barths, so we confirm them before you travel.
• Coming home. Dogs need a CDC Dog Import Form receipt and a microchip, and must be at least six months old.

Coming home. The operator files the advance passenger manifest with US Customs at least 60 minutes before leaving the Caribbean and arranges the US landing. Teterboro has customs on the field. Returning through San Juan lets you clear US customs there and continue home on a domestic flight.

Seasons and hurricanes

The high season runs from mid-November to the end of April, with the peak from Christmas through New Year’s. Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, peaking between mid-August and mid-October.

For Christmas and New Year’s, book the jet and the connection together, and as early as you can. The connecting seats are as scarce as the jets.

Which aircraft fits best

For most families, a light or midsize jet to St. Maarten is the right size. It flies there nonstop in under four hours, and on this route the connection is the bottleneck, not the jet. A super-midsize suits larger groups or more comfort on the longer leg. Whatever you fly, the luggage you can take to St. Barths is set by the turboprop, not the jet. A very large jet with a full hold buys you little.

How Jake handles this route

Jake plans St. Barths trips backwards from sunset. He sets the Teterboro departure so the jet lands at St. Maarten with time for immigration and the transfer, and books the connection to meet the jet. He makes sure your ED forms are done before you leave and keeps the ferry as a fallback if the day slips. He confirms that the jet operator is ARGUS Gold or Platinum rated, and he often meets clients on the ramp at Teterboro before departure.