St. Barts. SBH. The place where aviation geeks go to scream silently at propellers. Most folks fly Winair via Sint Maarten. Boring. Last time? I grabbed a ticket on Tradewind Aviation for the leg out.
Tradewind isn’t your standard carrier. It’s Part 135, which means they’re legally a charter broker masquerading as a schedule. Think JSX but with less baggage and more islands. The DOT tried cracking down on this “public charter” loophole under the previous admin. Failed. Here we are.
They run Pilatus PC-12 turboprops. Just one. I know what you’re thinking. Single engine over the Atlantic? Nuts. It’s statistically fine, sure, but that brief moment of “wait, is that engine still making noise” never fully disappears. The PC-12 itself, though. Absolute beast. Jet-like performance in a tin can with a propeller on the front.
The network makes sense if you ignore geography for a second. San Juan to the Caribbean. Fort Lauderdale/Stuart to the Bahamas. Seasonal shuttles to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket from the Northeast. I paid under $600 for one-way San Juan to St. Barts. Cheap? No. Worth it? Yes.
“Convenience costs money, but so does patience.”
I found business class award space from Miami to San Juan, not Sint Maarten. Saved me the hassle of immigration lines at SXM. Plus, we ended up being the only people on that plane. Private charter prices? More like solo pricing with extra steps. 😏
The lounge that nobody wants
Two hour layover in San Juan. Buffer time is luxury. Tradewind check-in is in Terminal A. JetBlue neighborhood, but you’d never know it. Signage obvious. Zero wait. Agents actually smiled. Not the customer service grin, but real smiles.
Lounge upstairs. Makeshift? Yes. Functional? Also yes. Snacks. Cheese plates. Beer. Wi-Fi. Outlets? Scattered. The bizarre part. We were there for 90 minutes. Just us. Despite a schedule thick enough to choke on, zero other souls showed up. I sat anywhere. Ate anything. Felt like I’d rented the building.
Private security check. No TSA bureaucracy. Just a nod and a walk.
Shuttle to the airfield. Comfortable cars. Not the usual cargo-hold vibe.
The plane that flies like a sedan
At the door, the First Officer greeted us. Confirmed the solitude. Quick safety demo. One hour to St. Barts she said. Eight seats, one by one. No overhead bins, just coolers of snacks in the back.
I sat row one. Front row center. Watch the flight deck. Why? Because the PC-12 cockpit looks like a spaceship compared to Winair’s Twin Otters, which look like they were assembled by a committee in 1950. High tech glass cockpits versus analog switches. It matters when you’re trying to look professional on a livestream. Or just bored.
Views everywhere. Islands popping out of blue water. I didn’t take pictures. Just watched.
Landing hard (and soft)
Approaching St. Barts. Now the real fun starts. The PC-12 handles the tricky SBH landing better than you’d expect. The Twin Otter feels like driving a pickup truck off a ramp. Bumpy. Jarring. The PC-12? Escalade. Smooth suspension. That weird dip when you pull up for the final approach—engine right there in the face—feels aggressive but controlled.
Pilots nailed it. U-turn. Taxi out. Deplane. Done.
Pretty plane? Absolutely.
Tradewind doesn’t save you money. Not really. But it saves time. Stress. Soul. If you’re coming from the US, skip the SXM chaos. Route through San Juan. Fly Tradewind.
We had the whole cabin. Just wind noise and thoughts.
