Aruba's Queen Beatrix International Airport is located near Oranjestad. This airport has daily flights to various cities across the United States, to San Juan, Puerto Rico; Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Washington DC; New York, and Boston, Massachusetts. It also connects Aruba with Canada and South America, with daily flights to the international airports of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, U.K and most of Europe through the Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. Direct flight from Italy started in November 2008.
According to the Aruba Airport Authority, in 2005 almost 1.7 million travelers used the airport, of which 61% were Americans.
U.S. Immigration and Nat. Services (INS) full pre-clearance in Aruba has been in effect since February 1, 2001 at the Queen Beatrix Airport and since 2008, the only island to have this service for private flights. Since 1999, the US defense department established a Forward Operating Location at the airport.