It is located about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) from the town of Clifton, one of the country's main tourist centers and a major destination for charter leisure flights during the winter holiday season and Easter, for "Easterval" celebration.

The airport serves as a focus city for flag carrier SVG Air and features flights to several short-haul regional destinations.

However, Union Island Airport is not quite as dramatic as Saba or St. Barts, but it does have a notable "over-the-hill-and-dive" approach and descent from the west, the usual direction in the easterly trade winds.

The main approach into the airport is Runway 08, small GA planes occasionally fly a tight pattern inside the hills, but this requires a sharpish turn to final approach close to the ground and overflies the inhabited area more than the Clifton town people probably prefer.

The airport's surroundings leave little room for error or mistake on the behalf of the pilots – with nearby hills and sea at the end of the short runway.

Preliminary design calls for two solutions with extended new runway of 762 m (2,500 ft) and improved approach slope, taxiway, apron, aircraft parking area, pavements, terminal building, access road and seaward shore protection.

[4] On December 5, 2009, CCA Limited commenced works on the second phase of the Union Island Airport rehabilitation project and within two weeks it was successfully completed.

The project works consisted of placing armour stones (sea defense) at the east-end of the runway, as the shoreline had been damaged by a previous hurricane.

Holiday villages and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for windsurfers, kitesurfers, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers.

This, together with the physical dimensions of the 752 m (2,467 ft) long runway and the steep glideslope, limits the aircraft types that can use Union island Airport.