Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Mataveri Airport (SCIP) serves Rapa Nui, Easter Island, in Chile's Valparaíso Region, and holds the distinction of being the most remote airport in the world, lying more than 3,500 km from the South American mainland. Its single very long runway, laid across the island's volcanic terrain, was built up during the Cold War era and later extended for potential Space Shuttle diversions, making it a striking destination for any simulator pilot seeking an isolated Pacific approach.
Mataveri Airport, sometimes referred to as Mataveri International Airport, is the sole airfield serving Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a Chilean possession far out in the South Pacific. It is famed as the most remote airport on Earth, separated from the Chilean mainland by roughly 3,500 km of open ocean and from the nearest inhabited land, the Pitcairn Islands, by around 2,000 km. For a sim pilot the appeal lies precisely in that isolation: a long ocean crossing ending on a single runway that almost bisects a small volcanic island.
The airfield sits at the base of a dormant volcano some 325 metres high, on the eastern side of Easter Island, with its runway stretching about 3.3 km and nearly cutting the island in two. Air traffic services are provided locally, with a tower and approach frequency both using the callsign Pascua, reflecting the field's role as a controlled aerodrome for the arriving long-haul traffic from mainland Chile and French Polynesia.
Mataveri has a single physical runway, 10/28, of hard surface and 9,596 feet in length. Both directions are lit, and runway 10 is equipped with an ILS, giving instrument guidance for the long overwater approach from the east.
Radio services operate under the callsign Pascua. Pascua Tower is on 118.1 MHz, Pascua Approach on 127.3 MHz, and Pascua Radio is available on both 127.3 MHz and 866.7 MHz. An ILS serves runway 10, supporting instrument approaches to the field's single runway.
The most prominent landmark for locating the field is the dormant volcano at whose base the airport sits, on the eastern end of Easter Island; the long runway itself, stretching almost across the width of the island, is unmistakable on approach.
Mataveri's runway was originally expanded with assistance from the United States for potential strategic use during the Cold War, and was later extended further to allow it to serve as an emergency landing site for the Space Shuttle. This unusual history, tied to global strategic and space programmes, gave the remote island an airfield far longer than its population would otherwise warrant, and it now underpins the island's role as an accessible, if extremely isolated, air link to the outside world.
Mataveri today primarily handles tourist traffic bound for Easter Island's Moai statues and other archaeological sites, connected by long-haul flights of around five and a half hours from Santiago or five hours from Tahiti. The airport's isolation and single long runway remain its defining operational characteristics for any crew planning a flight in or out.