Mataveri airport
| Aeropuerto Internacional Mataveri | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | SCIP |
| IATA code | IPC |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 48 m (157 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 1 km south of Hanga Roa |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1967 |
| operator | SPECIALIST - Fuerza Aérea de Chile |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Passengers | 60,000 (2018) |
| Start-and runway | |
| 10/28 | 3300 m × 45 m asphalt |
The Mataveri International Airport ( ICAO : SCIP , IATA code : IPC , Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional Mataveri ) is the international airport of Easter Island , which to Chile belongs. The airport plays an important role in tourism today, as there is virtually no other way to reach the remote island.
location
The airport is located in the southern center of the main town Hanga Roa and around 3760 km west of the Chilean capital Santiago de Chile . The closest airport is Totegegie Airport on the Gambier Islands , which belong to French Polynesia . It is located around 2608 km west of Hanga Roa. Due to the extremely remote location, construction of an airport on Easter Island started late.
The runway runs from the coast in the southern center of Hanga Roa around 3300 m to the east coast of the island.
history
The beginnings of air travel to Easter Island
Air traffic on Easter Island developed from the middle of the 20th century. Before that, the island could only be reached by ship. In 1951 the first airplane, a seaplane that was specially converted for this flight, headed for the island. It ended up in a wide path. For the flight, which lasts 19 hours and 22 minutes, the aircraft was specially named “Manu Tara” (“bird of happiness”). It took off for the first time in the Chilean city of La Serena. The crew at that time consisted of 9 people, among them pilot Roberto Parragué Singer and Major Horacio Barrientos Jofré. You were responsible for the adventurous journey. There was an accident on the return flight and the plane landed in the sea due to the uneven runway. Since the flight was carried out without the approval of the Chilean Air Force, the pilot was demoted and punished.
The first runway
The construction of the first runway on Easter Island was prepared by 80 American construction workers in 1964 and completed the following year by Chilean companies. They received support from the USA , as they needed a runway in the Pacific as a strategically important point in order to be able to better coordinate the nuclear tests on the Muroroa Atoll. In the next two years, however, only Chilean military planes landed on Easter Island. But the construction of the runway did not make everyone happy. The islanders still accuse the builders of having destroyed a settlement and the “Ahu Mahave” ceremony complex during the construction .
The first airport
Mataveri Airport was completed in 1967, so that passenger air traffic with DC-6 machines could also begin that year. The planes reached Easter Island in around nine hours from Santiago de Chile. The Chilean head of state Salvador Allende banned the Americans from using the airport in 1970. From 1971 the Chilean airline LAN (today: LATAM) offered the first scheduled flights from Santiago de Chile via Mataveri Airport to French Polynesia, which were operated by jet aircraft from 1974 . This route is still served today. After the US-Americans were granted permission to use it again in the 1980s, NASA planned the airport as an emergency runway for the space shuttle for take-offs from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which never happened. After wide-bodied aircraft were also able to fly to the airport from 1986, the number of tourism on the island increased and the supply was stabilized.
Airlines and Destinations
The Chilean airline LATAM is the only one that flies to the airport on a regular basis. It connects Mataveri Airport with Santiago de Chile (SCL) at least once a day and flies to Papeete , Tahiti , French Polynesia (PPT) up to twice a week . For this purpose, it mostly uses Boeing 787-9 aircraft , the so-called Dreamliner.
Individual evidence
- ^ Mataveri International Airport (IPC). Retrieved February 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Distance Hanga-Roa, Isla-de-Pascua, Valparaíso, CHL> Rikitea, PYF - air line, driving route, midpoint. Retrieved on February 20, 2019 (German).
- ^ Mataveri Airport. Retrieved February 20, 2019 (de-US).
- ^ Mataveri Airport on Easter Island. Retrieved February 20, 2019 .
- ^ Mataveri Airport on Easter Island. Retrieved February 24, 2019 .
- ^ Mataveri Airport on Easter Island. Retrieved February 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Flightradar24: Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map. Retrieved February 20, 2019 .