J F Mitchell Airport
J F Mitchell Airport
J. F. Mitchell Airport (IATA: BQU, ICAO: TVSB), also known as Bequia Airport, is the airport serving Bequia island, Grenadines Parish, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, including Grenadines Parish's capital Port Elizabeth. It is named after Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell, KCMG, PC, MP, former Premier (1972-1974) and Prime Minister (1984-2000) of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In 1990, a land reclamation project was undertaken in Paget Farm for the construction of the island's J.F. Mitchell Airport. The airport is basically a turbo-prop center for chartered flights. Nevertheless, small private jet aircraft also fly to this airport. Most commercial flights into J. F. Mitchell Airport are domestic, but there are about ten international flights each week from Barbados and Saint Lucia; while these international flights are done by national airlines, the international routes have nevertheless awakened the interest of some foreign airlines that might open flights into this airport in the future. Like most Caribbean airports, there are no jet bridges, with all passengers exiting and entering the plane via airstairs. J. F. Mitchell Airport is the third largest airport by land area in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, after Argyle International Airport and Canouan Airport. It is one of five airports in the multi-island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the others being Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent, Canouan Airport, Mustique Airport and Union Island Airport.
Location
12.988°N, 61.262°O · 5 m s. n. m. (15 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 2
Tower
Ground
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
In 1974, Sir William Halcrow and Partners in association with the UK Transport Development Unit produced a design for a 4,000-foot runway at Paget Farm. Studies were undertaken for this report by, among others, the Caribbean Meteorological Institute and Airline Pilots, with British technical assistance.
The World Bank Report on Tourism, dated April 20, 1982, stated that “The Grenadines are the area of most tourism potential”, stressing that priority be given to the development of “certain basic facilities, notably jetties and airstrips”. In October 1985, the European Investment Bank approved financing for the Bequia Airport Feasibility Study.
In May 1987 the final Feasibility Study by Wallace Evans and Partners was presented to the European Commission. This regional project was approved by 14 Caribbean and 12 European governments to be grant-funded under the Third LOME Convention.
The German firm of Kocks Consult GmbH was selected in June 1988 as Design and Supervision Consultants, with Interbeton/Ham of The Netherlands selected as Contractors in December 1989.
The Bequia airport went through over 41 stages of analysis, performance and certification procedures. These included the historic wave studies to determine the height of construction needed above sea level, and the critical Environmental Impact Assessment Study, which was submitted on Aug. 16, 1989.
The deep vibro compaction of the dredged sand was completed in November 1991, less than two years after the contract was awarded to Interbeton. Six months later, on May 15, 1992, The Bequia Airport was officially opened.
Airlines operating here · 4
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Dylanwill · CC BY-SA 4.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). J F Mitchell Airport (BQU). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU
MLA
“J F Mitchell Airport (BQU).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “J F Mitchell Airport (BQU).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) J F Mitchell Airport (BQU). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU (Accessed: 23 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_bqu,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{J F Mitchell Airport (BQU)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU}},
urldate = {2026-10-23},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-23}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BQU |title=J F Mitchell Airport (BQU) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-23 |language=en}}