Totegegie Airport

Totegegie Airport (IATA: GMR, ICAO: NTGJ) is an airport on Totegegie Island in the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia. It is 9 km northeast of the village of Rikitea.

Totegegie Airport
IATA: GMR ICAO: NTGJ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Serves	Gambier Islands, French Polynesia Is the closest airport to the Pitcairn Islands
Location	Rikitea
Elevation AMSL	7 ft / 2 m
Coordinates	23°05′04″S 134°53′07″W
Map
GMR Location of the airport in French Polynesia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 12/30 2,000 6,562 Asphalt
Sources: French AIP[1]

Totegegie is one of Mangareva island's reefs, approximately 9 km (5.6 mi) from Rikitea, the island's administrative settlement. It has the only building on the reef. The airport is 1,652 km (1,027 mi) from Tahiti and is classified as a territorial aerodrome. Its only commercial service is to Tahiti's Fa'a'ā International Airport on Tuesdays.^[2][3]

Totegegie Airport is crucial in its role as the outside world's link to Pitcairn Island. One of the few ways a traveler can reach Pitcairn is to fly to Tahiti, then to Totegegie. From there, a 32-hour boat ride will take one to Pitcairn.^[3]

History

The 3,500 metres (11,500 ft) 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, landed in 1968. The same year, a DC-6 performed weekly service between Totegegie, Mururoa and Papeete. In 1978, the first commercial air link was established between Totegegie and Papeete.^[4]

The French army buildings were decommissioned in 1998. At the end of operations 50 tons of scrap metal had been collected.^[5]

In 2008, the terminal was expanded and modernized.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Air Tahiti	Hao, Papeete[6]

Ground transportation

The airport is connected to Mangareva and its city Rikitea by boat.

From Mangareva there are boats going to Pitcairn Island, the main way of getting there.

Passengers

Annual passenger traffic at GMR airport. See Wikidata query.

The annual number of passengers is shown below. ^[7]

Years	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Passengers	5,236	5,249	5,319	5,129	4,937	5,609	5,922	6,598	6,938	7,155	7,409	6,850	7,420	7,003	7,798	7,521	7,498	7,201	7,675	8,498	9,053	9,653	4,501

References

1. NTGJ – TOTEGEGIE. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 31 October 2024.
2. "ISPF – Transports maritimes et aériens". Archived from the original on 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
3. "Pitcairn Islands.... Visit Pitcairn". Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
4. "Construction de la piste de Totegegie aux Gambier en 1967" (PDF). 2005. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
5. "Les Gambier en 1967" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
6. "Download forecast schedule – Official website – Air Tahiti".
7. "Union des Aéroports Français".