Flying home from St Barths is two legs planned as one trip. The 646 m runway at St Barths takes only small turboprops with specially approved crews, so the first leg is a 32 km hop to Princess Juliana on St Maarten, by turboprop or by helicopter on request. From there a jet covers the 1,972 km to Opa-locka in about 3 h 06 on a light jet. Measured directly, St Barths to Opa-locka is 2,004 km. We time the hop to the jet and tell you in the quote how long the connection at SXM is.
| Airport | IATA / ICAO | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Barths, Gustaf III | SBH / TFFJ | departure · 32 km to SXM | Runway 10/28 of 646 m, concrete. Jets do not land here: only small turboprops of the Caravan, Twin Otter or PC-12 class, flown by crews holding the special approval St Barths requires. |
| Princess Juliana International, St Maarten | SXM / TNCM | connection · 1,972 km to OPF | St Maarten's main airport and the usual jet gateway for St Barths. Runway 10/28, 2,300 m. |
| Miami-Opa Locka Executive | OPF / KOPF | arrival | Business-aviation-focused airport in north Miami-Dade; suits Aventura, Bal Harbour, Miami Beach and the northern neighborhoods of Miami. Runways of 2,439, 2,073 and 1,313 m. |
| Miami International | MIA / KMIA | arrival · 1,968 km from SXM | Miami's main airline airport, closest to downtown, Brickell and Coral Gables; private flights use it too. |
| Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International | FLL / KFLL | arrival · 1,968 km from SXM | Alternative for Broward County addresses. |
Source: OurAirports (airports and runways, retrieved 3 October 2026), great-circle. Runway length at St Barths and at Tortola also checked against a second published source.
| Class | Example (published range) | Verdict for 1,972 km | Estimated time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light jet | Phenom 300 (3,650 km) | Non-stop | 3 h 06 |
| Midsize jet | Citation XLS+ (3,889 km) | Non-stop | 2 h 50 |
| Ultra-long-range jet | Global 6000, Falcon 8X, Gulfstream G650 (11,112 km) | Non-stop | 2 h 31 |
Rule: non-stop needs 15% range margin. Times are estimates from our model; the hop from St Barths to St Maarten (32 km) is a turboprop or helicopter on top.
6-8 passengers, 3,650 km of published range: 1.9 times this jet leg.
See the aircraft ›9-12 passengers, 7,408 km of published range: 3.8 times this jet leg.
See the aircraft ›13-19 passengers, 13,890 km of published range: 7.0 times this jet leg.
See the aircraft ›We quote St Barths to Miami against your dates rather than from a table: it is two aircraft of different classes, and we found no published broker price for the pair that we would reprint. Every quote we send is in US dollars, for the whole aircraft, and the price includes our service fee.
| When | What happens | Our advice |
|---|---|---|
| Early January | The days after New Year, when the island empties at once and the small aircraft are busiest. | Book the hop and the jet together, early. |
| March and April | End of the winter season. | Plan the connection at St Maarten in daylight hours. |
Your dates and group size for Miami.