Airport type Public Location Pape'ete Address Fa'a'ā, French Polynesia Elevation 2 m | Operator SETIL - Aéroports Elevation AMSL 2 m / 5 ft Code PPT Phone +689 40 86 60 61 | |
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Serves Tahiti, French Polynesia, France Hub for Air Tahiti
Air Tahiti Nui Similar Tahiti Airport Motel, InterConti Tahiti Resort, Tahiti Nui Hotel, LAN Airlines, Hertz Tahiti | ||
Tahiti french polynesia landing at fa a a international airport hd 2017
Fa'a'ā International Airport (French: Aéroport international de Tahiti Fa'a'ā) (IATA: PPT, ICAO: NTAA) is in the commune (municipality) of Fa'a'ā, on the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, 5 km (3.1 mi) west southwest from the town center of Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia. Tahiti is in the northwestern part of French Polynesia, and this is the only international airport in the overseas collectivity of the French Republic. It opened in 1960. Regional air carrier Air Tahiti and international air carrier Air Tahiti Nui both have their head offices located at the airport.
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Tahiti french polynesia landing at fa a a international airport hd 2017
Overview
Fa'a'ā International Airport is relatively small. Air Tahiti has daily flights to most other islands in French Polynesia. There are international flights to Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. The airport is on Tahiti which is an island among the Windward Islands: the eastern part of the Society Islands. Because of limited level terrain, rather than leveling large stretches of sloping agricultural land, the airport is built primarily on reclaimed land on the coral reef just off-shore.
The airport is operated by Setil Aéroports and has a single 3,420 m (11,220 ft) runway, that can accommodate aircraft up to Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 size.
Historical airline service
Prior to the construction of the airport, Papeete was served by Short Sandringham "Bermuda" flying boat seaplanes operated by Reseau Aerien Interinsulaire (RAI) with connecting service via the Bora Bora Airport (BOB) to Los Angeles via Honolulu flown by Transports Aeriens Intercontineaux (TAI) which was serving Bora Bora in 1960 with Douglas DC-7C propliners. Later the same year, TAI began serving Papeete directly with DC-7C flights once a week on a round trip routing of Noumea (NOU) - Nadi (NAN) - Papeete (PPT) - Honolulu (HNL) - Los Angeles (LAX). TAI then introduced Douglas DC-8 jet service and in 1962 was operating nonstop DC-8 flights to Los Angeles, Honolulu and Nadi with the latter flight continuing on to Noumea with connecting DC-8 service being flown to Paris via Noumea in association with Air France via a number of intermediate stops en route. By the mid 1960s, Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) was operating nonstop Boeing 707 jetliner flights to Los Angeles and Auckland with direct one stop service to San Francisco via Los Angeles and also direct to Honolulu via a stop at Pago Pago in American Samoa. LAN-Chile, the predecessor of LATAM Chile, introduced Douglas DC-6B propliner service between the airport and Santiago, Chile via a stop at Easter Island during the late 1960s and by 1970 was operating Boeing 707 jet service from Santiago via Easter Island to Papeete with direct connecting 707 service via its Santiago hub from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro in South America as well as Madrid, Paris and Frankfurt in Europe.
The airport was previously served by several other international airlines including AOM French Airlines, Qantas and Union de Transports Aeriens (UTA) with flights not only to their respective home countries but also to Los Angeles. Air New Zealand has served Tahiti for many years as well and was operating Douglas DC-8 jet service in 1968 with a routing of Auckland - Papeete - Los Angeles. According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), by the 1980s and 1990s these air carriers primarily operated wide body jetliners such as the Boeing 747-100, 747-200, 747-300 and 767-300 as well as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 on their flights serving Papeete. South Pacific Island Airways also served the airport during the early 1980s with nonstop Boeing 707 flights to Honolulu.
Ground transportation
Many buses come into the airport from Pape'ete, the main bus being the airport shuttle which goes along the Tahiti west coast freeway, which passes in front of the main terminal. The parking lot has traffic guards in which 3,000 people pass through each month.