Mataveri International Airport or Isla de Pascua Airport is at

Hanga Roa Hanga Roa (; rap, Haŋa Roa, Rapa Nui pronunciation: �ha.ŋa ˈɾo.a (Spanish: ''Bahía Larga'') is the main town, harbour and seat of Easter Island, a municipality of Chile. It is located in the southern part of the island's west coast, in th ...

Rapa Nui Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly ...

/ (

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

) (''Isla de Pascua'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

). The most remote airport in the world (defined as distance to another airport), it is from

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

(SCL) which has scheduled flights to it on the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

an carrier

LATAM Chile LATAM Airlines Chile (formerly LAN Airlines and LAN-Chile) is an airline based in Santiago, Chile, one of the founders of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest airline holding company. The main hub is Arturo Merino Benítez Internationa ...

. The runway starts just inland from the island's southeast coast at Mataveri, and nearly reaches the west coast, almost separating the mountain of

Rano Kau Rano Kau is a tall dormant volcano that forms the southwestern headland of Easter Island, a Chilean island in the Pacific Ocean. It was formed of basaltic lava flows in the Pleistocene with its youngest rocks dated at between 150,000 and 210,0 ...

from the rest of the island. The airport is the main point of entry for visitors to Easter Island. It has a transit lounge that was formerly used by passengers continuing to or returning from

Papeete Papeete ( Tahitian: ''Papeete'', pronounced ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the French Republic in the Pacific Ocean. The commune of Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subd ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

, which was serviced by LATAM until June 2020.

History

Scheduled services from the Chilean mainland started in 1967 with a monthly

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

propliner flight operated by LAN-Chile that took nine hours, using a runway extended and paved for the use as a U.S. base. In 1970, services were upgraded with weekly

Boeing 707-320 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

nonstop jet service to Santiago, Chile and

Faa'a International Airport Faa'a International Airport (french: Aéroport international de Tahiti-Faaa), also known as Tahiti International Airport , is the international airport of French Polynesia, located in the commune of Faaa, on the island of Tahiti. It is situated ...

(PPT) in

. Nonstop service to Papeete had been added earlier during the late 1960s using a DC-6B and the frequency then doubled to twice-weekly with LAN-Chile providing direct connecting 707 service once a week between Easter Island and Frankfurt, Paris and Madrid in Europe via its Santiago hub. By 1975, LAN-Chile had extended its Tahiti route flown once a week with a 707 to

Nadi, Fiji Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population ha ...

(NAN). LAN-Chile then replaced its Boeing 707 flights with

Boeing 767-200ER The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified o ...

jet service and in 1993 was operating twice weekly round trip flights on a routing of Santiago (SCL) – Easter Island (IPC) – Papeete (PPT). The airline later operated

Airbus A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...

and

Boeing 767-300ER The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

wide body jetliners into the airport. The airport's single

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concrete ...

is 3,318 m (10,885 ft) long. The airport was once designated as an abort site for the U.S.

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

when polar orbital flights from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg Sp ...

in southern California were planned with this space launch activity then subsequently being cancelled. The project undertaken by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

to lengthen the runway was completed in 1987 and enabled wide-bodied jets to use the airport, which further boosted tourism to the island.

Description

Due to the lack of diversion airports between

and South America except for Mataveri, Chilean aviation authorities prohibit more than one aircraft from being in the vicinity of Mataveri. Once an aircraft flying from South America passes the halfway point between South America and Easter Island, no other aircraft can be closer than its own halfway point until the first aircraft successfully lands on the island. This is because if an aircraft should have an accident that obstructs or closes the runway, the other aircraft would not be able to land, and should have been turned back to its airport of departure. There is a hill adjacent to the eastern end of the runway. Approach and departures from either end of the runway are over the water.

Airlines and destinations

operates

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American Wide-body aircraft, wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced th ...

aircraft to the island on its scheduled services.

References

External links

Island heritage photos
* {{authority control Hanga Roa Airports in Chile Airports in Valparaíso Region Buildings and structures in Easter Island 1967 establishments in Easter Island

History

Description

Airlines and destinations

See also

References

External links