The airport was completed in August 1999 and consists of four buildings and a control tower. The old airport, opened in 1965 and located on the south side of the inner harbour, was re-located due to the lack of room for expansion (The runway is 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) when compared to the old 11/29 runway at 1,250 metres (4,100 ft)).[1] The main terminal building is a two-storey structure. The old airport is located in city centre of St. Pierre and is being redeveloped for housing complexes. The control tower, terminal building, hangar, and part of the old runway (mark number 29) are intact. The airport project cost 370 million French francs.[1]
Unusually, the airport's ICAO airport code, LFVP, begins with an L, representative of the codes used in France (and nearly all of southern Europe), despite the geographical proximity to Canada's codes which begin with C. While not entirely unheard of elsewhere, it is rarely seen in airports of other overseas territories or possessions of European nations, including France, which tend to hew to the most geographically relevant letter code, as opposed to the most politically relevant. Airports in French Guiana, for example, use South America's S prefix, despite French Guiana's being an overseas department of France.
Facilities
2,200 m2 (24,000 sq ft) passenger terminal
1,600 m2 (17,000 sq ft) maintenance building to store snow plows
2,500 m2 (27,000 sq ft) aircraft hangars and workshop