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Airports are generally built close to the cities and communities they serve. Even when they sit outside urban areas, they are usually connected to nearby inhabited areas by roads, railways, or other forms of transport. Accessibility is, after all, a fundamental part of an airport’s role.
There are, however, airports where this familiar relationship between an airport and the surrounding communities does not quite apply. Some are located far from major population centers. Vast stretches of land or ocean can separate them from the nearest airport. In fact, the world’s most remote airport is more than 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) from another airport.
Mataveri International Airport Is The World’s Most Remote Airport
Mataveri International Airport (IPC), also known as Isla de Pascua Airport, is considered the most remote airport in the world based on its distance from another airport. The closest airport to the facility is Totegegie Airport in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia. The two airports are approximately 1,617 miles (2,603 kilometers) apart. There is no direct connection between them.
IPC is located on Easter Island in the South Pacific Ocean, a Chilean territory more than 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) from the coast of mainland South America. The island is also known as Rapa Nui (the name used by its Indigenous people) and is best known for its moai, the monumental stone figures created by the Rapa Nui people. Easter Island’s closest inhabited neighbor is Pitcairn Island, which is around 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) away.
The airport itself sits near Hanga Roa on the western side of Easter Island. It is the island’s only airport and the main aerial gateway for visitors traveling to Rapa Nui. IPC is located at an elevation of 227 feet (69 meters) above sea level. It has a single asphalt runway designated 10/28. The runway measures 10,886 feet (3,318 meters) in length and is capable of accommodating widebody aircraft.
A Brief History Of Mataveri International Airport
The airport has been serving Easter Island for almost six decades. It began operations in 1967, when air service to the island looked very different from today. Steven Roger Fischer notes in his book Island At The End Of The World: The Turbulent History Of Easter Island that early services used Douglas DC-6 aircraft operated by LAN Chile. The four-engine piston aircraft took about nine hours to reach Easter Island from mainland Chile.
Later, with the introduction of jet aircraft, LAN Chile introduced Boeing 707s on services from IPC to Santiago and Faa’a International Airport (PPT) in Papeete, Tahiti. The airport initially had a runway about 2,900 meters long. NASA later extended it to its current 10,886 feet (3,318 meters) in 1987. The project cost about $7.5 million at the time. NASA needed the longer runway as part of plans to use Mataveri as a South Pacific abort site for Space Shuttle missions launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Those planned polar-orbit missions were ultimately canceled, so the Space Shuttle never operated from Mataveri. But the runway extension benefited the airport’s commercial operations. It gave airlines more room to operate larger aircraft on flights to and from Easter Island. Over the years, LAN Chile moved to widebody aircraft on its services from IPC, including the Boeing 767 and Airbus A340.
LATAM Chile Is The Only Airline Serving Mataveri
Indeed, Mataveri’s remote location has meant that flight operations at the airport have always been relatively limited. As noted earlier, LAN Chile, now known as LATAM Chile, was the first airline to establish regular services to Easter Island. The carrier connected Mataveri with Santiago and Papeete in Tahiti. Historical schedule data from aviation analytics provider Cirium shows that LAN Chile has been the main operator at the airport for much of its history, offering nonstop services to both destinations.
Between 2011 and 2013, LATAM Peru also briefly connected Lima with Mataveri. Today, LATAM Chile remains the only airline operating scheduled passenger services at Mataveri. The Santiago route is the airport’s main connection to the outside world. LATAM operates one or two daily flights on the route, with a typical flight time of around five hours. The airline mainly uses the Boeing 787-8, which accounts for more than 60% of services to Easter Island.
LATAM Airlines Fleet | |
|---|---|
Aircraft Type | Fleet |
Airbus A319 | 14 |
Airbus A320 | 99 |
Airbus A321 | 18 |
Boeing 767 | 9 |
Boeing 787 | 40 |
The 787-8 used on the route has 272 seats. Its standard configuration includes 20 business class flatbeds in a 1-2-1 layout and 252 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. LATAM also offers a less dense configuration with 30 Zodiac Aura Lite business class flatbeds and 217 economy seats. LATAM suspended its Papeete service in June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The route has not returned as a regular service.
Mataveri’s Location Creates Challenges For Aircraft Operations And Maintenance
Mataveri’s remote location has also placed some restrictions on how aircraft can operate at the airport. There are no suitable diversion airports between Easter Island and South America or Tahiti. Because of this, Chilean aviation authorities do not allow more than one aircraft to be in the vicinity of Mataveri at the same time. Once an aircraft flying from South America passes the halfway point to Easter Island, another aircraft cannot pass its own halfway point until the first aircraft has landed.
The rule is designed to prevent a situation where an aircraft is left without a safe place to land. If the first aircraft had an accident on the runway and the runway became blocked or unusable, a second aircraft that was already too close to the island would not be able to land or divert safely. Instead, it would have to return to its departure airport. Additionally, the airport’s remote location can complicate aircraft maintenance when something goes wrong.
A few months ago, one of LATAM’s Boeing 787s was grounded at Easter Island after a mobile airstairs truck collided with the aircraft during ground handling. The impact tore away the L2 passenger door. No injuries were reported as the passengers had already disembarked. Mataveri does not have a large hangar suitable for a Boeing 787, so LATAM faced the additional challenge of repairing the aircraft on the island and arranging the parts, equipment, and specialist support needed to return it to service.
Mataveri Airport Is Set For A Major Modernization
Looking ahead, Mataveri Airport is set for a major transformation. Chile’s Ministry of Public Works has included the airport in its 2025–2035 investment plan and allocated more than $400 million to modernize its infrastructure and expand its capacity. The project will be carried out in stages. The first phase includes a temporary passenger terminal of around 4,500 square meters and a new 29,000-square-meter platform for commercial aviation. Construction is expected to take place between 2026 and 2027.
In fact, the temporary terminal is targeted to open in late 2026. A helicopter emergency landing point is also planned to become operational sometime this year. Furthermore, the longer-term plan calls for a new permanent terminal in the Orito sector, around 2 kilometers north-east of the existing airport. The new terminal will cover around 9,000 square meters, almost three times the size of the current terminal. Construction is expected to take place during the next decade; the facility is targeted to become operational around 2035.
The relocation is partly linked to a long-standing land restitution agreement involving the Roe family, the heirs of Rafael Roe. The current passenger terminal and commercial aviation platform are located on land covered by the agreement. Once the new facilities are ready, the existing terminal area will be returned to the family. The investment will increase the airport’s capacity and improve its infrastructure as the island continues to attract visitors from around the world.
According to Aviacionline, Mataveri currently handles around 300,000 passengers and 7,000 tons of cargo each year. Chile’s Minister of Public Works, Jessica López, said, “We need Mataveri to be a terminal that aligns with the global destination the island represents. This investment will improve infrastructure, expand capacity, and position Rapa Nui as a key point in the Asia-Pacific.“
Mataveri Is Not The Only Extremely Remote Airport
Overall, Mataveri is the world’s most isolated airport, but it is far from the only airport considered extremely remote. There are several others where locations have a direct impact on flight operations. Svalbard Airport (LYR) is one of them. It is located in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago and is the northernmost airport in the world with scheduled commercial flights.
Only domestic flights are currently permitted at the airport, which limits its scheduled network to Oslo (OSL) and Tromsø (TOS). Scandinavian Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle are the two airlines operating scheduled services to Svalbard. In Asia, Paro International Airport (PBH) is another example.
It is the only international airport in Bhutan and is widely considered one of the most challenging airports for pilots because of the mountains surrounding the airport. Some peaks reach more than 18,000 feet, so flights are permitted only during daylight hours. Bhutan Airlines and Drukair currently operate scheduled services from Paro to destinations across Asia and the Middle East.
