With the extension of its primary runway to 3,660 metres, the AB Won Pat Guam International Airport Authority (GIAA) is able to serve the island with nonstop flights to the US mainland.
The US territory in the Western Pacific is the regional flight hub of Micronesia, and has daily flights to Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Seoul, Manila, Taipei and Honolulu, and less-frequent flights to Hong Kong, Shanghai and other cities. Until the runway was extended, nonstop flights to the US mainland were not possible. A secondary runway and parallel taxiway also allows for simultaneous take-offs and landings at the airport.
“Long-haul travel means that direct flights to the US West Coast is possible, so you don’t need connecting flights via other airports, which can add up to 50% extra travel time,” GIAA chairman Ed Untalan said during a July 27 celebration of the project’s completion. “The (extended) runway makes that possible.”
Whether any airline will take up Guam on its hope for mainland flights remains to be seen. Plans to move 5,000 Okinawa-based US Marines and their families to Guam within the next decade could provide the cargo and passenger traffic needed for an airline to launch the route. Under US law, it's almost certain that only US airlines would be allowed to operate the route; Guam is a United Airlines hub, and also has frequent flights to and from Japan on Delta Air Lines.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provided US$3.34M in funding for the last phase of the Runway 6L/24R rehabilitation project.
“Guam’s Airport is in a really great position to market opportunities for connectivity in the region with our fully extended runway,” said executive manager Chuck Ada. “It’s a feather in our cap to have a facility with this key feature for airlines to service routes direct to the US West Coast and other long range or long haul air service, such as air cargo.”
Over US$70 million has been invested in facility enhancements, improvements and navigational aids related to the extension of Guam’s primary runway over a 7-year period.
