Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Bauerfield International Airport, widely known as Port Vila International Airport, serves the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila on the island of Efate. Despite its modest size, its single long runway is capable of handling wide-body jets, and the field has a distinctive history as a wartime American airfield turned civil international gateway. For a simulator pilot it offers a straightforward single-runway approach into a compact Pacific island airport with a strong sense of history.
Bauerfield International Airport lies at Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, on the island of Efate. It is operated by Airports Vanuatu Limited and served as the international hub for the national carrier, Air Vanuatu, until that airline's bankruptcy in 2024. The airport is relatively small in footprint, but its runway is long enough to accept large wide-body jets such as the Airbus A330, making it an interesting destination for a range of simulated aircraft types from light singles to airliners.
The airport sits on Efate island, serving Port Vila, the capital and largest city of Vanuatu.
Bauerfield has a single physical runway, 11/29, measuring 8,495 feet with a hard surface and runway lighting. There is no ILS installed.
Air traffic services are provided by AFIS, contactable on 120.7 MHz and also listed on 1133.9 MHz. The tower (TWR) frequency is likewise 120.7 MHz, with 1133.9 MHz also associated with tower operations, and 120.7 MHz serves as the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF).
The airfield's origins lie in the Second World War. With Japanese forces advancing through the Pacific and threatening the sea route between the United States and Australia, the US Navy and Army moved to defend and develop Efate from March 1942, sending troops from Noumea and landing elements of the 4th Defense Battalion, 45th Marines, in April, followed by the 1st Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees) in May. US Marines had already cleared a coral runway some 2,000 feet by 200 feet near Port Vila on a plantation owned by Henri Russet; the Seabees subsequently expanded this to 6,000 feet by 350 feet. The field was known variously as Efate Field, Vila Field or McDonald Field before being officially named Bauer Field in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel Harold W. Bauer, a US Marine Corps fighter pilot lost at sea on 14 November 1942 after being shot down during the Battle of Guadalcanal. American squadrons based there during the war included the 12th and 44th Fighter Squadrons and the 26th Bombardment Squadron. The base was disestablished and abandoned in February 1946. In more recent times the runway was rebuilt between roughly 2016 and 2019 under a World Bank-funded project. The airport was damaged in the Port Vila earthquake of 17 December 2024, which forced its closure to non-humanitarian flights for 72 hours before commercial operations resumed on 22 December 2024.
Bauerfield remains Vanuatu's principal international airport, operated by Airports Vanuatu Limited, and was the hub for Air Vanuatu until the carrier's 2024 bankruptcy. The single 8,495-foot runway allows the field to accept wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A330 despite the airport's otherwise modest scale. An ATR 72 operating Air Vanuatu Flight 241 veered off the runway on 28 July 2018 while landing with an engine shut down following an in-flight fire, colliding with two parked Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders.