Asau Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Asau Airport is a small and quiet dometic airfield located in the thick dense jungle of Savai'i, nearby the town of Asau in Savai'i Island, Samoa. This airport is open daily for 12 hours a day. According to the Samoan media, the Old and New Asau Airport is still operating under International Standards.
This is a domestic airport which only serves flights in and out of Maota and Faleolo. It used to offer a flight to Pago Pago, American Samoa
The airport code for this little Airport is AAU.
There is only 1 rigid and roughly surfaced runway. There are no runway lights, and there is no watch tower. Asau Airport, however, is under the main Sky Watch Tower in Faleolo.
Only Twin Otter planes can land and take off this small airport, generally because the runway and tarmac cannot handle any other larger and heavier aircraft.
The small tarmac can only fit 2 Twin Otter planes. A small long term Aircraft parking shed is located near the tarmac.
A small shed serves as the airport terminal. It consists of a shared Departure and Arrival Lounge, a luggage handling area, a small travel and information area, a gift shop, a small toilet facility and an ANZ ATM.
No aircraft incident has yet occurred in this airport or in the area.
[edit] Polynesian Airlines
A small Polynesian Ailines aircraft serves this little airport once or twice a week. Demands on this airport are not so great compared to Maota Airport, which is located near the Island Capital of Salelologa. It once served flights to Pago Pago, but after 2003 all flights to American Samoa were canceled.
[edit] 2003 Disaster
In 2003, a cyclone swept past Samoa and most of the South Pacific. Asau was badly affected and the airport suffered serious damage. Since 2006, the airport has been shut, and all passengers who wished to go to Asau had to go through Maota.
Since then, the airport terminal was rebuilt and a new paved runway was installed. It is still uncertain whether the new runway is up to international standards.
