Medium Transport
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 130; Flight Crew Total 18000; Flight Crew Type 185
Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors; Procedure; Chart Or Publication
The 10-7 [airport briefing] page for BQN says that the tower is closed after 21:00 local time. During preflight and before descent I made note of this and briefed the FO on non tower ops. About 50 miles out we were cleared for the approach by San Juan center and told to contact BQN. We made a non tower position call and were told to report joining final. I thought this was the advisory service that is also mentioned in the 10-7. It was not until another plane used the word tower that I clued in that the tower was open. I asked the FO to verify with the tower that they were open. Tower responded yes. We were about 15 miles out at this point and safety was not compromised and nothing was violated. I'm simply writing this to make sure that the 10-7 page is changed to reflect that the tower may be open. If a crew thinks the tower is closed it might be possible to land without a clearance and this is a big safety issue. The parallel taxiways are also closed and landing flights on rwy 08 must back taxi also increasing the risk of landing on another plane.  Please update the 10-7.
Air Carrier Captain arriving BQN; expected the Tower to be closed according to the airport briefing page (10-7). A position report is made on the CTAF and the reporter determines that the Tower is in fact open after normal closing time.