The World’s Most Remote Airport Is 2,000 Miles in the Middle of the Ocean

Many people fly out to other cities, states, or countries for several reasons. Some might want to see family. Some might want to travel to new places to explore or get away from life’s troubles. Texas has the most airports in the United States and the United States has the most airports in the world with over fifteen thousand airports. Although one can fly all over the world and think they have seen everything, this surprising remote airport makes people feel like they’re traveling to an unknown corner of the world.

What Is The World’s Most Remote Airport?

The world’s most remote airport is the Mataveri International Airport. Mataveri is also known as Isla de Pascua Airport (IPC). It is located at Hanga Roa on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). It is the most remote airport in the world as it’s 2,336 miles from Santiago, Chile (SLC). The runway starts at the southeast coast and almost touches the west coast of the island by the Rano Kau Mountain.

History of the Airport

The Mataveri International Airport operations began in 1967. Monthly flights occurred from the LAN-Chile aka LATAM Airlines based in Santiago, Chile to Easter Island. The flight from Santiago, Chile to Mataveri takes five and a half hours.

In the seventies, the LATAM added a couple of different airlines to have come out of the airport.

The Airport Today

Nowadays, Mataveri only flies to two destinations: Santiago, Chile (SLC) and the Faa’a International Airport of Papeete in Tahiti. The area is so remote that NASA set up an emergency space shuttle landing strip on the island. Easter Island is a special territory of Chile, so LATAM Airlines (the largest Latin American airline holding company in South America) considers the flight to Mataveri a domestic flight. The flight to the Faa’a International Airport is the only international flight Mataveri serves. Mataveri does a daily connecting flight to Chile and a weekly connecting flight to Tahiti. Why does Tahiti have a weekly connecting flight? Low demand in the past year.

More than one hundred thousand tourists visit Mataveri International annually to visit the archaeological sites and the unique location. After passengers get off the plane, they’re greeted by staff with flower necklaces. Visitors must make reservations for hotels and resorts. It’s not always a good idea to arrive on the island and not have reservations somewhere. Some locals would offer visitors to stay at their place for a small price.

The Moai statues are an important symbol of the Rapa Nui people at Easter Island. NFL legend Michael Strahan interviewed elder tribeswomen about the importance of the statues to their history, archaeology, and economy. The average weight of the statues is 40 tons. The walking of the Moai is a tradition passed down for many generations. In the video, people can see a demonstration of how people were able to move the statues from one location to another. All the statues are located around freshwater sources and face inward to look at the people on the island.

However, they’re facing issues of climate change. Some of the challenges include rising sea levels and more constant storms. Those can bring more challenges such as the statues eroding and the rising sea levels impacting the fresh drinking water sources the statues are located at.

Summary Of The World’s Most Remote Airport

What is the world’s most remote airport? The world’s most remote airport is the Mataveri International Airport.

The area is so remote that NASA set up an emergency space shuttle landing strip on the island! Mataveri International only takes people to two destinations: The Santiago de Chile Airport in Santiago, Chile (SLC) and the Faa’a International Airport of Papeete in Tahiti. The flight from Santiago de Chile Airport to Mataveri takes five and a half hours to do. If someone flies from Mataveri to the Faa’a International Airport of Papeete in Tahiti, French Polynesia takes approximately six hours.

More than one hundred thousand tourists visit Eastern Island annually to visit the archaeological sites and the unique island space. Aside from the famous Moai statues, there are many different beaches and small villages people can experience. People can’t fly directly from the United States to Easter Island, however. The only way to get to Easter Island is to fly to Chile and depart from Santiago Airport to Mataveri.