Totegegie Airport is an airport on Totegegie Island in the

Gambier Islands The Gambier Islands ( or ) are an archipelago in French Polynesia, located at the southeast terminus of the Tuamotu archipelago. They cover an area of , and are made up of the Mangareva Islands, a group of high islands remnants of a caldera alo ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

. It is 9 km northeast of the village of Rikitea. Totegegie is one of

Mangareva Mangareva is the central and largest island of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia. It is surrounded by smaller islands: Taravai in the southwest, Aukena and Akamaru in the southeast, and islands in the north. Mangareva has a permanent p ...

island's

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...

s, approximately from Rikitea, the island's administrative settlement. It has the only building on the reef. The airport is from

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

and is classified as a territorial aerodrome. Its only commercial service is to

's Fa'a'ā International Airport on Tuesdays. Totegegie Airport is crucial in its role as the outside world's link to

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn Island is the only inhabited island of the Pitcairn Islands, in the southern Pacific Ocean, of which many inhabitants are descendants of mutineers of HMS ''Bounty''. Geography The island is of volcanic origin, with a rugged cliff ...

. One of the few ways a traveler can reach Pitcairn is to fly to

, then to Totegegie. From there, a 32-hour boat ride will take one to Pitcairn.

History

The runway was constructed in 1967 by the 115th running of the Society of the Pacific Experimentation Centre Pacific (CEP). The first aircraft, a

Piper Aztec The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined general aviation light aircraft, used also in small numbers by the United States Navy and military forces in other countries. Originally designed as the ...

, landed in 1968. The same year, a DC-6 performed weekly service between Totegegie,

Mururoa Moruroa (Mururoa, Mururura), also historically known as Aopuni, is an atoll which forms part of the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is located about southeast of Tahiti. Administratively Moruroa Atoll i ...

and

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

. In 1978, the first commercial air link was established between Totegegie and Papeete. The French army buildings were decommissioned in 1998. At the end of operations 50 tons of scrap metal had been collected. In 2008, the terminal was expanded and modernized.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Ground transportation

The airport is connected to

and its city Rikitea by boat. From

there are boats going to

, the main way of getting there.

Passengers

External links

References

Airports in French Polynesia Gambier Islands Airports established in 1967 1960s establishments in French Polynesia 1967 establishments in Oceania 1967 establishments in the French colonial empire {{FrenchPolynesia-geo-stub