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Bonriki International Airport (NGTA/TRW) is the principal gateway to Kiribati, situated on the islet of Bonriki within the atoll of South Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Built by American Seabees during the Second World War, it now serves as the hub for the nation's domestic carriers and the point of entry for regional international services.
Bonriki International Airport sits on the Bonriki islet of South Tarawa, the capital atoll of Kiribati, and is the country's main air link to the outside world. It is government-operated and today functions as the hub for both of Kiribati's airlines, Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways, while also receiving international flights from Fiji Airways and Nauru Airlines. For a visiting sim pilot, its low-lying atoll setting, single long runway, and Pacific War history make it a distinctive and atmospheric destination.
The airport lies on Bonriki islet at the eastern end of South Tarawa, a narrow atoll formed of a chain of islets in the Gilbert Islands group. The field sits at very low elevation, just 7 feet above mean sea level, surrounded by the lagoon and open Pacific waters typical of the atoll environment.
Bonriki has a single physical runway, 09/27, aligned east-west. It has a hard surface measuring 6,795 feet in length and is equipped with lighting. There is no ILS approach available.
Air traffic services are provided as AFIS on 118.1 MHz, which also serves as the FSS CTAF. A separate frequency, 1133.9 MHz, is listed as the Tarawa Radio CTAF for the flight service facility. There is no ILS at the field.
The airfield was constructed in December 1943 by United States Navy Seabees and named Mullinix Field in honour of Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinix, who died when the USS Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese submarine off the Gilbert Islands on 24 November 1943. Almost as soon as the runway was completed it became the focus of United States Army Air Forces operations from Tarawa, since the runway at nearby Hawkins Field on Betio was too short for safe bomber operations. Mullinix Field's longer runway made it the base for VII Bomber Command Headquarters, directing operations against Japanese forces in the Marshall Islands, and it hosted the B-24 Liberator-equipped 11th Bombardment Group and the B-25 Mitchell-equipped 41st Bombardment Group. In April 1944 the land-based combat units moved forward to Kwajalein Airfield in the Marshall Islands, after which Mullinix was reduced to an emergency airfield. By the end of the war the Americans had abandoned the facility, and it was subsequently converted into a civilian airport.
Bonriki International Airport now serves as the hub for Air Kiribati and the 2009-established Coral Sun Airways, both of which operate domestic services to the other airports of the Gilbert Islands, though not all destinations are flown directly from Tarawa. Fiji Airways connects Kiribati with its Nadi hub, and Nauru Airlines links Tarawa with Nauru, continuing on to Honiara, as well as serving Brisbane, Kiritimati, Koror, Majuro and Pohnpei on various routings.
