Cyril E. King Airport has nonstop service to sixteen cities on the U.S. mainland and ten destinations around the Caribbean.
There are no long-haul services and no European carriers. Everything either runs to a U.S. mainland city or hops around the region, and anyone travelling from further afield connects through a mainland hub or through San Juan.
Miami is the shortest mainland run at three hours and ten minutes. Minneapolis is the longest at six hours and seventeen. The regional flights are a different scale entirely: St. Croix is twenty-five minutes and Tortola twenty-seven, both shorter than the drive from one end of St. Thomas to the other.
Nonstop Destinations on the U.S. Mainland
| City | Airport | Airline | Flight time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | ATL | Delta Air Lines | 4h 07m |
| Baltimore/Washington | BWI | Southwest Airlines | 4h 20m |
| Boston | BOS | Delta Air Lines | 4h 20m |
| Charlotte | CLT | American Airlines | 4h 09m |
| Chicago O’Hare | ORD | American Airlines, United Airlines | 5h 40m |
| Dallas/Fort Worth | DFW | American Airlines | 5h 42m |
| Houston | IAH | United Airlines | 5h 15m |
| Miami | MIA | American Airlines | 3h 10m |
| Minneapolis/St. Paul | MSP | Sun Country Airlines | 6h 17m |
| Nashville | BNA | Southwest Airlines | 4h 35m |
| New York JFK | JFK | American Airlines, Delta Air Lines | 4h 23m |
| Newark | EWR | United Airlines | 4h 27m |
| Orlando | MCO | Southwest Airlines | 3h 25m |
| Philadelphia | PHL | American Airlines | 4h 15m |
| Tampa | TPA | Breeze Airways | 4h 30m |
| Washington Dulles | IAD | United Airlines | 4h 23m |
American has the widest network from St. Thomas with six mainland cities, and United follows with four. Between them they carry most of the mainland traffic, and the way those arrivals bunch through the middle of the day is why the customs and security queues behave as they do on the way out. See check-in for what that means for your departure.
Regional and Caribbean Routes
| Destination | Airport | Airline | Flight time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anguilla | AXA | Anguilla Air Services, Cape Air | 0h 45m |
| Dominica | DOM | Contour Aviation | 1h 30m |
| Nevis | NEV | Cape Air | 1h 14m |
| St. Barthélemy | SBH | Cape Air | 1h 20m |
| St. Croix | STX | Cape Air | 0h 25m |
| St. Kitts | SKB | Cape Air | 1h 10m |
| San Juan, Puerto Rico | SJU | Cape Air, JetBlue Airways, Sun Country Airlines | 0h 42m |
| Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | SDQ | Sky High Aviation Services | 1h 05m |
| Sint Maarten | SXM | Contour Aviation | 0h 55m |
| Tortola, British Virgin Islands | EIS | Cape Air | 0h 27m |
These are small aircraft on short sectors, and they work from the Commuter Inter-Island Gates, numbered 10 and 11, rather than from the main concourse.
Most Regional Flights Cross a Border
This catches people out, because a twenty-five minute flight does not feel international.
Only two of the ten are U.S. soil: St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and San Juan in Puerto Rico. Those are domestic movements and need nothing beyond the identification you would carry on any U.S. flight.
Everything else is a foreign country or territory. Anguilla and Tortola are British, St. Barthélemy is French, Sint Maarten is split between Dutch and French administration, and St. Kitts, Nevis, Dominica and the Dominican Republic are independent states. All of them require a passport in both directions, including on a day trip. The passport and entry requirements page sets out what applies.
Connecting Through San Juan
San Juan is the regional hub, forty-two minutes away and served by three airlines from St. Thomas. Anyone arriving from outside the United States, or from a mainland city without a nonstop, usually routes through it.
Connecting through San Juan into St. Thomas is a domestic movement in both directions, so there is no immigration formality either way. Travelling the other way, from St. Thomas to San Juan, you still clear the U.S. Customs inspection at Cyril E. King Airport before departure, because the customs boundary sits between the territory and Puerto Rico just as it does with the mainland.
Which Airlines Fly to St. Thomas
Eleven carriers serve Cyril E. King Airport. Six work the U.S. mainland and the rest run the regional network around the Caribbean.
Mainland carriers
American Airlines has the widest network from St. Thomas, with six nonstop cities: Miami, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare and Dallas/Fort Worth. IATA AA, ICAO AAL. aa.com
United Airlines flies four: Chicago O’Hare, Houston, Newark and Washington Dulles. IATA UA, ICAO UAL. united.com
Delta Air Lines flies three: Atlanta, New York JFK and Boston. IATA DL, ICAO DAL. delta.com
Southwest Airlines flies three: Baltimore/Washington, Orlando and Nashville. IATA WN, ICAO SWA. southwest.com
Sun Country Airlines flies Minneapolis/St. Paul, and also serves San Juan. IATA SY, ICAO SCX. suncountry.com
Breeze Airways flies Tampa. flybreeze.com
JetBlue Airways serves San Juan from St. Thomas rather than a mainland city. IATA B6, ICAO JBU. jetblue.com
Regional carriers
Cape Air runs the island-hopping network almost single-handedly, serving seven of the ten regional destinations: St. Croix, Tortola, San Juan, Anguilla, Nevis, St. Kitts and St. Barthélemy. IATA 9K, ICAO KAP. capeair.com
Contour Aviation flies the two southern routes, Dominica and Sint Maarten. IATA LF, ICAO VTE. contourairlines.com
Sky High Aviation Services flies Santo Domingo. IATA DO, ICAO SHH. skyhighdominicana.com
Anguilla Air Services flies Anguilla, alongside Cape Air. anguillaairservices.com
Airlines that do not serve St. Thomas
Spirit Airlines does not operate into Cyril E. King Airport. It appears on plenty of St. Thomas itineraries, but always on a connecting leg out of San Juan or a Florida hub rather than on a flight into STT itself. The same applies to Frontier, Silver Airways and Air Sunshine, all of which are still listed on older guides.
Routes and carriers change by season and from year to year. Check the current schedule on departures and arrivals before booking around any single service.
Airports in the U.S. Virgin Islands
There are two commercial airports in the territory. Cyril E. King on St. Thomas is the larger and handles most of the traffic. Henry E. Rohlsen, code STX, serves St. Croix, and Cape Air links the two in twenty-five minutes.
St. John has no airport. Visitors reach it by ferry from Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie after landing at St. Thomas, which is worth knowing before searching for a code that does not exist.
Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base handles the seaplane service between St. Thomas and St. Croix. It is a separate facility on the waterfront in town, not part of Cyril E. King Airport.
Frequently Asked Questions
American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Southwest, Sun Country and Breeze operate from the U.S. mainland. Cape Air handles most of the regional island network, alongside Anguilla Air Services, Contour Aviation and Sky High Aviation Services. There is no long-haul or European service to St. Thomas.
Yes, from sixteen mainland cities including Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte, New York JFK, Newark, Chicago, Philadelphia and Nashville. American has the widest network with six, followed by United with four. Everywhere else connects through a mainland hub or through San Juan, forty-two minutes away.
No. St. John has no airport of any kind. Visitors fly into Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas and continue by ferry from Red Hook or Charlotte Amalie. Searches for a St. John airport code return nothing because none exists.
Yes. Cape Air operates between Cyril E. King Airport and Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix in twenty-five minutes, using the Commuter Inter-Island Gates at the St. Thomas end. A seaplane service also links the two islands, but it runs from the Charlotte Amalie Harbor Seaplane Base in town rather than from the airport.
Three to six and a half hours from the U.S. mainland, depending on where you start. Florida is closest, at three hours ten minutes from Miami and three twenty-five from Orlando. East Coast hubs run around four and a quarter hours. Texas, Chicago and Minneapolis are the longest, between five and a half and six and a quarter.
Twenty-five minutes to St. Croix and twenty-seven to Tortola, both shorter than driving from one end of St. Thomas to the other. San Juan is forty-two minutes, Anguilla forty-five and Sint Maarten fifty-five. The longest regional nonstop is Dominica at an hour and a half. Most of these routes need a passport.
No. Spirit does not operate into Cyril E. King Airport. It appears on many St. Thomas itineraries, but on the connecting leg out of San Juan or a Florida hub rather than on a flight into STT. Frontier, Silver Airways and Air Sunshine are also still listed on older guides without serving the airport.