Chuuk International Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located on

Weno Weno, formerly Moen, is an island municipality of Chuuk State of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). It is the largest town in the FSM. It has an estimated area of 20 square kilometers. Population The population was 13,856 at the censu ...

(formerly Moen), the main island of the State of Chuuk (formerly Truk) in the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...

History

Chuuk International Airport was originally built by

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

between November and December 1942. Back then it was known as Harushima Airfield to the Japanese or Moen Air Field 1. With around 80 support buildings including a large hangar and underground storage for fuel and ammunition, it was used by fighter, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Between October 4, 1944 and June 27, 1945, the airfield was attacked by

USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

Like many islands within the region, commercial air service is rather limited. For many years the only service was the three-times-weekly

Island Hopper The Island Hopper is an airline route between Guam and Honolulu, Hawaii, via several small islands in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. The route, currently operated by United and originally by Continental Micronesia, is ...

flight between

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

and

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

operated by

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, (formerly

Continental Micronesia Continental Micronesia, Inc. (CMI) was a company which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Airlines. It operated daily flights to Honolulu, Hawaii, as well as international services to Asia, Micronesia and Australia from its base of ...

), plus another weekly flight between Guam and

Pohnpei Pohnpei "upon (''pohn'') a stone altar (''pei'')" (formerly known as Ponape or Ascension, Proto-Chuukic-Pohnpeic: ''*Fawo ni pei)'' is an island of the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group. It belongs to Pohnpei ...

. In June 2015,

Nauru Airlines Nauru Air Corporation, trading as Nauru Airlines (formerly trading as Our Airline and Air Nauru), is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Nauru. It operates scheduled international services to other Pacific islands and Australia. Its main ...

resumed a once-weekly service but ended in 2016.

Incidents and accidents

*28 September 2018 -

Air Niugini Flight 73 Air Niugini Flight 73 was a scheduled service from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, via Chuuk, FSM. On 28 September 2018, a Boeing 737, operated by Air Niugini, landed short of the runway at Chuuk ...

, a Boeing 737-800, landed short of the runway and came to rest in a lagoon. 1 passenger died and was recovered later by divers. The remaining 35 passengers and 11 crew escaped serious injury.

References

External links

*
Chuuk (Truk) Visitors Center: Diver's HavenArchive
*AirNav.com: FAA information fo
PTKK
*CrusingAltitude.com'

Airports in the Federated States of Micronesia Weno International airports in the Federated States of Micronesia {{Oceania-airport-stub