Vava’u Airport located in the Pacific, its also located 240km north of Tongatapu which is capital of Tonga. The airport will be redeveloped into a larger airport and will runway extend the current runway size 5,593 ft (1,705 m) to 8,858 ft (2700 m) and build a larger airport terminal to facilitate international tourists as its current one is not fit for purpose.
Current Airport:
Airport Plans:
The object of this is to bring more tourist than it already does to the island of Vava’u in Tonga and give incoming tourist a similar experience to the Maldives.
It is hoped that the development will bring in more tourist and capture new tourist markets such as USA, Japan, China, its current markets is New Zealand and Australia but is not very well known as tourist destination at this current time. But New Zealand is the key tourist market making a 42% marketshare of its visitor numbers. The only way you can get to the island by flying is from Nadi, Fiji to the island, with the operator Fiji Airways and aircraft type ATR42 or ATR72.
“The new airport will be one of the world’s first to be designed to meet the needs of a post-COVID-19 tourism market and is considered a key component of the strategy in the regeneration and development of a high quality tourism market for the Pacific Island nation.”
This redevelopment is estimated to be worth $170 million NZD, designing what the terminal is going to look like is under progress and is hoped to be release in the incoming future. It is hoped that it will convince investors to build resorts and create premium experience for tourists. This redevelopment would benefit the locals of the island and not only help it get recognition from other parts of world as a tourist destination for people to come and relax.
What do you guys think of this redevelopment? What are your guys thoughts?