Departure
100%
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nuku Hiva Airport serves the Marquesan island of Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia, its single hard-surfaced runway set amid an arid, sparsely inhabited stretch of the island's north coast. Known locally as Nuku A Taha, or "Deserted Land", it lies a considerable distance from the main village of Taiohae and remains one of the more remote fields served by scheduled inter-island air services in the Pacific.
Nuku Hiva Airport (ICAO NTMD, IATA NHV) is the airfield for Nuku Hiva, the largest island of the Marquesas group in French Polynesia. It is served today by Air Tahiti and Air Moana on inter-island routes, and its remoteness and the striking, near-desert terrain surrounding the runway make it a memorable destination for the visiting VFR pilot. The field is locally known as Nuku A Taha, meaning "Deserted Land", a name reflecting the barren landscape in which it sits.
The airport lies on the north side of Nuku Hiva, well away from the island's main settlement at Taiohae, from which it is separated by a drive of around ninety minutes over unsurfaced roads. Its setting is an arid, exposed part of the island quite unlike the lush interior valleys elsewhere on Nuku Hiva.
The airport has a single physical runway, 06/24, 5,518 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS. Field elevation is 210 feet.
An AFIS (aerodrome flight information service) operates on 118.3 MHz. No other navigation aids are noted for the field.
The airfield sits in a distinctively arid, desert-like landscape on the island's north coast, in marked contrast to the green, mountainous interior of Nuku Hiva, giving rise to its local nickname "Deserted Land" (Nuku A Taha). The coastline in this part of the island is a useful reference when approaching from the sea.
Plans for an airport on Nuku Hiva were announced in 1976, envisaging a two-phase project: an initial 1,500 metre runway to be later extended to 2,650 metres. Construction of the first phase began in 1979, but the planned second-phase extension was never carried out. Air links to the Marquesas predate the airport considerably: in October 1953 the first flight to the islands landed on water at Taiohae, on Nuku Hiva, using a seaplane operated by the forerunner of today's Air Tahiti. In April 1991, Air Tahiti Flight 805, a Dornier 228, suffered an engine failure while on approach to Nuku Hiva and attempted to ditch near the coast.
Nuku Hiva Airport is served by scheduled flights from Air Tahiti, linking it with Atuona, Papeete, Ua Huka and Ua Pou, and by Air Moana, which operates services to Papeete.