Butaritari airfield

Butaritari Atoll Airport
Characteristics
ICAO code	NGTU
IATA code	BBG
Coordinates	3 ° 5 '11 "  N , 172 ° 48' 41"  E Coordinates: 3 ° 5 '11 "  N , 172 ° 48' 41"  E
Height above MSL	1.5 m (5  ft )

Integration into the national flight network

The airfield Butaritari , officially English. : Butaritari Atoll Airport , often just Butaritari Airport or just Butaritari Airstrip, ( IATA code : BBG , ICAO code : NGTU ), is a regional airport in Kiribati and is located in the middle of the Atoll of Butaritari, which belongs to the northern Gilbert Islands .

Butaritari is served by the national airline Air Kiribati from the Bonriki International Airport hub in South Tarawa .

history

The airfield was built by the United States from around November 20 to mid-December 1943 during World War II after the liberation of the Japanese-occupied island. During the war, the airport was known as Butaritari Airport , Antakana Airport or Starmann Field and was an important part of the Pacific War for the 1944 attacks on the Marshall Islands and Kwajalein . After the Second World War it passed into the hands of the British colonial administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands , and after independence in 1979 into the hands of the state of Kiribati.

Flight connections

• Air Kiribati ( Makin , Tarawa )