Visitors to the Turks and Caicos Islands, unless on a cruise ship, will mostly arrive at the Providenciales International Airport. (Airport code – PLS). Typically there are 222 flights on 69 different routes from Providenciales International Airport, connecting PLS to 60 different cities in 17 different countries. Around 15 airlines run regular services to Providenciales. North American flights come from both the U.S and Canada.
The airport was expanded with a larger terminal building to encourage more international flights The expansion was completed in 2014 There is a single runway 2,800 metres long allowing for commercial panes up oi the size of the Boeing 777 wide-bodied aircraft. The other Turks and Caicos airlines are served by on-going flights from PLS although direct flights from local Caribbean departures points can also serve these islands. The airport at South Caicos which has been under development for 10 years is now scheduled to be improved with completion in 18 months.
Being a mere 90 minutes flying time away from Miami the Islands are extremely easy and quick to get to. Several US airlines make regular trips including, American Airlines, Delta, Jet Blue, South West and United. From Canada you can fly with both Air Canada and Westjet.
U.S. departure cities include the following with flight times to PLS from the major US airports:
Atlanta – 3 hrs 05
New York – 3 hrs 30
Boston – 3 hrs 40
Charlotte – 3 hrs
Chicago – 4 hrs 40
Dallas – 4 hrs 30
Fort Lauderdale – 1 hr 55
Miami – 1 hr 55
Philadelphia – 3 hrs 25
Canadian flights depart from both Montreal and Toronto with flight times of around 3 hours 45 mins. There are also international British Airways flights from London, UK which fly via a stop in Antigua. These flights are approximately 11 hrs 50 in flying time.
Providenciales International Airport is relatively small but apart from the major international arrivals it also handles a higher number of inter-island domestic flights to other islands such as South Caicos, Grand Turk and Salt Cay. Regular local Caribbean flights from Jamaica, Haiti, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic are also on the list.
From March 2020 the airport was closed due to the COVID pandemic and re-opened on July 22nd 2020. Flights to this point are still limited in volume in comparison to normal traffic. Air Canada for instance is flying one per week currently compared with the normal schedule of daily flights from Toronto and twice weekly from Montreal.
COVID-19 travel restrictions apply to arriving international visitors at the time of writing. More details on this can be found in our blog article Travel Restrictions | Turks and Caicos Islands . The pandemic has severely impacted the travel habits of much of the world and the flights offered by major airlines are adjusted to match the demand until the situation is more controlled.
For full details on travel information visit the Turks and Caicos Tourism website.
On arrival at the airport in Providenciales, there are plenty of options for onward travel to your vacation villa. See out fully detailed information page on Car rentals in Turks and Caicos