L'Espérance Airport SFG / TFFG

L'Espérance is the French side's turboprop and GA field, complementing Princess Juliana across the border in Dutch Sint Maarten. A single 1,200m runway with no ILS and no published instrument approach limits it to VFR operations by ATR-72-sized aircraft and smaller, with night flying prohibited; PAF border police and customs are present and have run targeted full-inspection ('100% control') anti-narcotrafficking sweeps on both commercial and GA traffic. Air Antilles, the long-time dominant carrier to Guadeloupe and Martinique, lost its DGAC air operator's certificate and was effectively grounded from December 2025; after judicial receivership opened 2 February 2026 failed to secure a buyer, the Pointe-à-Pitre commercial court ordered its judicial liquidation with immediate cessation of activity on 27 April 2026, ending its service to the island. As of September 2026 Air Caraïbes and St Barth Commuter remain the scheduled operators, and planners should expect thinner regional frequencies until replacement capacity firms up. Annual traffic reached a record 213,925 passengers in 2025 (UAF/EDEIS statistics, +2.4% on 2024), well above the 192,285 figure from 2018 that had been the prior figure on file.