Pago Pago International Airport

Airport in American Samoa

Pago Pago International Airport , also known as Tafuna Airport, is a public airport located 7 miles (11.3 km) southwest of the central business district of Pago Pago, in the village and plains of Tafuna on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa, an unincorporated territory of the United States. 3,099 flights arrived at Pago Pago International Airport in 2014, down from 3,665 in 2013. Incoming flights carried 55,728 passengers in 2014, while flights carrying 57,355 passengers took off from the airport. of cargo and of mail were brought in by commercial carriers.

The airport was a vital link to the Samoan Islands until the runway at Faleolo International Airport in Independent Samoa was improved and lengthened to handle larger than Boeing 737 type aircraft in 1984. With a population that is 3.5 times greater than American Samoa plus greater emphasis that was put on tourism growth, international airline traffic particularly from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific island countries began to shift from Pago Pago to Faleolo airport. Airlines with flights from the US to Australia and New Zealand also started utilizing aircraft that did not require a refueling stopover in Pago Pago. By the late 1980s and due to heavy competition and economics, only one passenger air carrier (Hawaiian Airlines) remained to serve the Pago Pago trans pacific route.

Pago Pago International Airport had historic significance with the U. S. Apollo Program. The astronaut crews of Apollo 10, 12, 13, 14, and 17 were retrieved a few hundred miles from Pago Pago and transported by helicopter to the airport prior to being flown to Honolulu on Lockheed C 141 Starlifter military aircraft.

A new US$12 million Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) Fire Crash station was completed in 2005. A US$18 million Hot Fire/Crash Training facility was constructed and completed in 2008 and was to be used to train ARFF personnel, and other Fire Crash personnel from various airports in the South Pacific. In 2010, Pago Pago International Airport underwent a US$1 million terminal remodeling and modernization with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The departure terminal, immigration, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security and lounge areas were completely renovated and expanded to increase passenger capacity and flow. A new control tower has been planned since 2006, but has been delayed due to arguments over funding and lack of traffic. Currently international traffic to Pago Pago is controlled from Faleolo International Airport in Samoa.

On January 30, 1974 at about 11:41 pm Samoa local time, a Boeing 707 operating as Pan Am Flight 806 from Auckland, New Zealand, to Los Angeles, California with en route stops in Pago Pago and Honolulu, clipped trees at an elevation of 113 feet (34 m) and about 3865 feet (1178 m) short of the runway 05 threshold. The first impact with the ground was about 236 feet (72 m) further along the crash path. The aircraft continued through the jungle vegetation, struck a 3 feet (1 m) high lava rock wall, and stopped about 3090 feet (942 m) from the runway threshold. There were 97 fatalities out of 101 occupants on the aircraft.