Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico is the island's main international gateway, and its main connection to the United States. Intra-island flights fly between San Juan and various local points of interest, including Ponce and Vieques. Its IATA Airport Code is SJU.
Located in the area known as Isla Verde, the airport was, for many decades, known as Isla Verde International Airport, until 1985, when then Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon decided to name it after Luis Munoz Marin, Puerto Rico's first democratically elected governor.
Luis Muñoz Marín Int'l is made up of three terminals: Terminal B, Terminal C and Terminal D. A new international terminal (Terminal A) is currently in construction.
The airport served as a Caribbean hub for Pan Am, Trans-Caribbean, and Eastern Airlines. It was also the hub of Puerto Rico's international airline, Prinair, from the airline's start in 1966 to 1984, when Prinair went bankrupt. In 1986, American Airlines (along with American Eagle) established a hub in the airport to compete with Eastern Airlines.
In the past, the airport has been served by Mexicana, Aerolineas Argentinas, Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways, Viasa, Dominicana De Aviacion and many other important airlines.
Various celebrities have been welcomed to Puerto Rico at this airport, including Menudo in 1981, after the group came back from touring Mexico; the boxer Felix Trinidad in 1999, after he defeated Oscar De La Hoya, and Pope John Paul II in 1984. Miss Universe 2003, Amelia Vega, held a press conferece at the airport after her arrival on October of that year.
In 1970, a Dominicana De Aviacion DC-9 that was flying to Luis Munoz Marin crashed shortly after takeoff from Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, killing everyone on board, including Puerto Rico's national women's volleyball team and Dominican Carlos Cruz, a former world boxing champion who was going to San Juan for a rematch with Carlos Ortiz.
On June 24, 1972, Prinair Flight 191, which took off from Luis Munoz Marin Airport, crashed while attempting to land at Mercedita Airport in Ponce.
In 1985, an American Airlines DC-10 taking off from Munoz Marin to JFK International Airport in New York overran the runway and nosedived into a nearby lake. Everybody avoided injury.
Airlines serving Luis Muñoz Marín International include: