Cassidy International Airport

Cassidy International Airport
Cassidy International Airport
	IATA: CXI; ICAO: PLCH;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Government
Serves	Kiritimati
Location	Banana
Elevation AMSL	5 ft / 2 m
Coordinates	01°59′10″N 157°20′59″W
Map
	CXI Location of airport in Kiribati CXI CXI (Oceania)
Runways
	Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Cassidy International Airport (IATA: CXI, ICAO: PLCH) is an airport located north of Banana, a settlement on Kiritimati (pronounced Christmas) island in Kiribati. Until 2018, it was the only airport in the Kiribati part of the Line Islands with an IATA or ICAO code.

The airport is served by Fiji Airways from Nadi, Fiji and Honolulu, United States, but not during the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of international borders. Since neither Air Kiribati nor Coral Sun Airways owns aircraft capable of flying between Kiritimati and the Gilbert Islands, where all other operational airports in Kiribati are located, flights to Tarawa are operated by Air Kiribati using Nauru Airlines aircraft.

History

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command used the airport as a refuelling stop on its Pacific transport route from Hawaii to Canton Island for flights to Australia and New Zealand as well as a staging point for attacks on the Gilbert Islands, then partially occupied by Japan. The airport was expanded considerably during the war, and the World War II runway configuration can still be seen as abandoned runways and aircraft parking areas in aerial photography. [3]

By 1981, Air Tungaru, the former national airline of Kiribati, was operating nonstop Boeing 727-100 jet service to both Honolulu and Tarawa as well as nonstop flights to Papeete, Tahiti with this latter service being operated in conjunction with Union de Transports Aériens (UTA), a French airline.[4] In 1994, Air Nauru was flying Boeing 737-200 jet service to Honolulu and Tarawa with the latter flight operating same plane direct service to Nauru.[5][6] During the early 2000s, Aloha Airlines operated nonstop Boeing 737 service to Honolulu.[7]

Name

Cassidy International Airport was originally named after a United States Army World War II pilot, Wilbur Layton Casady, whose plane crashed near the island on 23 March 1942. The name remained until sometime in the 1980s and was referenced in many books and a Sports Illustrated article on fishing in Kiribati. It is unclear when the spelling changed, but it now uses the spelling 'Cassidy' International Airport.

Facilities

A Fiji Airways Boeing 737 from Nadi en route Honolulu at Cassidy International Airport. Cargo has been unloaded.

The customs, immigration lounge

Bus service into Banana and London

The airport is at an elevation of 5 ft (1.5m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 08/26 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,103 by 30 metres (6,900 ft × 98 ft).[1]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air Kiribati	Tabuaeran, Teraina
Fiji Airways	Honolulu, Nadi
Nauru Airlines	Tarawa[8]

Air Pacific service

On 29 August 2008, Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways) announced they would suspend flights to and from the airport as of 2 September 2008. The decision was made due to the deteriorating surface of the runway which had been deemed unsafe after an inspection by Air Pacific personnel and specialist runway engineers.[9] Service resumed on 25 May 2010. During the period Air Pacific was not offering its services to Fiji and the United States, a USA company, Te Mauri Travel, offered "interim" charter flights to Kiritimati.

References

Airport information for PLCH Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
Airport information for Cassidy International Airport (PLCH / CXI) at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
"Air Tungaru". Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/on/on9402/on9402-1.jpg Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine
https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/on/on9402/on9402-3.jpg Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine
https://departedflights2.com/aloha-airlines-september-2-2003-system Archived 7 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine -timetable/
"Nauru Airlines / Air Kiribati Begins Regular Tarawa – Kiritimati Service From Aug 2023". Aeroroutes. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
"Air Pacific Suspends Flights To Kirimati (Christmas) Island Archived 15 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine". Air Pacific, 29 August 2008. Retrieved on 19 October 2008.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[WAD-1] Airport information for PLCH Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine from DAFIF (effective October 2006)

[GCM-2] Airport information for Cassidy International Airport (PLCH / CXI) at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).

[3] This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

[4] "Air Tungaru". Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.

[5] ttps://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/on/on9402/on9402-1.jpg Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine

[6] ttps://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/on/on9402/on9402-3.jpg Archived 13 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine

[7] ttps://departedflights2.com/aloha-airlines-september-2-2003-system Archived 7 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine -timetable/

[8] "Nauru Airlines / Air Kiribati Begins Regular Tarawa – Kiritimati Service From Aug 2023". Aeroroutes. Archived from the original on 2 August 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2023.

[9] "Air Pacific Suspends Flights To Kirimati (Christmas) Island Archived 15 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine". Air Pacific, 29 August 2008. Retrieved on 19 October 2008.