Willemstad – Curaçao International Airport successfully passed this year’s audit by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Curaçao Airport Partners were recently informed by the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority that the official TSA report had entered and that it concluded that the airport operator correctly complies with the international airport and ICAO safety and security requirements and that Curaçao International Airport is categorized by the TSA as a safe and secure airport.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that has authority over the security of the traveling public in the United States. The agency audits and inspects airports of destinations to and from the United States, in terms of safety and security aspects of airport infrastructure and operations. The audit entails checking of documents, inspecting if the ICAO rules and regulations are adhered by, and also control of operational aspects and infrastructure. The TSA audits are done every three years if the audited airport has no or minor findings. If there are findings of safety and security breaches or other, the TSA reports these and returns within a year to control if proper actions were taken and improvements were made. The last time TSA audited Curaçao International Airport was three years ago. They will return in three years. The organization can however visit sooner to control airlines on location, to check if these airlines adhere to new US directives. The results in the TSA report mean that Curaçao International Airport is categorized by TSA as safe and secure. Due to this, Curaçao International Airport is often times chosen by the aviation industry for (emergency) landings, layovers and to execute tests of new airplanes and wide-body aircrafts.

FAA Category Status
The Curaçao International Airport, operated by CAP, fully meets all international standards for the safe operation and management of an international airport facility.
In order to prevent confusion it should be noted that the categorization by the FAA of Category 2 status for Curaçao has no relation to the operational safety and security of the airport. The categorization of Curaçao to FAA Category 2 means that the quality of the regulatory, technical, staffing, records and documentation required to be provided by the Government in their oversight functions related to civil aviation does not meet FAA Category 1 oversight standards.  It is our understanding that the Curaçao Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) is working to correct these deficiencies.