Majuro’s AKIA soon to change

The cramped Amata Kabua International Airport terminal, which was originally built in the early 1970s. Photo: Hilary Hosia.

GIFF JOHNSON

While all the airports in the United States-affiliated islands of the north Pacific have had new terminals built or major improvements to existing ones made in recent times, Majuro’s Amata Kabua International Airport (AKIA) remains a vestige of the past, still using a now-dilapidated terminal first opened over 50 years ago.

The good news is Japan is preparing to fund a new airport terminal, and detailed design work is moving forward. The US government is also funding a temporary terminal that will be used while the old terminal is demolished and a new one built and will become part of the AKIA airport terminal complex.

“It’s a four-phase project (to redevelop the airport terminal),” said Marshall Islands Ports Authority Executive Director Thomas Maddison last week. Japan is currently working on the design phase, which is expected to be completed in mid-2025 with the cost estimates for a new terminal. Other parts of the planned improvements include a temporary terminal, a two-story parking structure, and cargo facilities for United Airlines, Nauru Airlines and Air Marshall Islands.

In addition to the terminal plan, the Federal Aviation Administration, which has injected tens of millions of dollars into infrastructure at AKIA airport over the past 15 years, is pumping in another $34 million in a two-phase project to repave the airport runway and apron areas and install refueling pipes. Work on the paving is expected to start soon, Maddison said.

Maddison acknowledged that the new terminal, if it’s approved by Japan following completion of the detailed design plan and cost estimate now in progress, will take time to complete. He said assuming the project moves ahead as planned, it is not likely to begin construction until 2026 or 2027.

The AKIA facility is in a transition that will see the demolition of the existing airport terminal, built in 1972, and the building of a new facility. Both the paving work and the new airport terminal will improve the Majuro airport for flight safety and passenger comfort.

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