History

Airport Authority two young women become the first females to join the Airport Rescue Fire Service

Upgraded Instrument Landing System

Rarotonga Car Park upgraded to computerised 24 hour ticketed parking7

June –  Upgraded Terminals opened

Upgrade of Rarotonga International Airport Terminals (Arrivals and Departures) started

Rarotonga Domestic and Check-in area extended

Sealing Aitutaki runway started and later opened in 2004

Aitutaki Terminal construction started and later opened in 1997

• Pacific Region Conference of the Airports International Council held in Rarotonga
• Publication of “Coming in on a Jet Plane” by Colin Hall – A Pictorial History of the Cook Islands International Airport, Rarotonga, 1944 – 1994

Changes to the terminal

June – Airport Authority was formed

5 November – First Boeing 747 service Auckland to Rarotonga

29 January – Official opening of the Rarotonga International Airport by Queen Elizabeth II

05 September – The first jet aircraft to land at Rarotonga on the completed strip was an Air Pacific BAC 1-11 series 475

11 June – Work on the new international airport started

07 February – Aviation Agreement signed between New Zealand and the Cook Islands

The Royal New Zealand Air Force was again required to provide a service to the Cooks.

• Polynesian Airlines and TEAL agreement. TEAL purchased all seats between Apia and Rarotonga to enable a service to be provide to Rarotonga
• Polynesian Airlines and TEAL operating the NZ – Apia – Rarotonga route

• TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways) provided Flying Boat service via Laucala, Satapuala, Aitutaki, Bora Bora and Tahiti.
• Solent Fly Boats replace New Zealand National Airways Corporation, also operated by Tasman Empire Airlines to Aitutaki.
• November – TEAL (Air New Zealand) began the world-famous ‘Coral Route’ using the Aitutaki Lagoon

• The New Zealand National Airways Corporation take over the regular fortnight service from NZ to Rarotonga with DC3 aircraft
• January 1951 – The first DC4 to land on the Rarotonga airstrip was the Trans-Ocean Airlines called the ‘Kansas City Kitty
• Also provided service via Norfolk Island, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa

• The New Zealand National Airways Corporation take over the regular fortnight service from NZ to Rarotonga with DC3 aircraft
• January 1951 – The first DC4 to land on the Rarotonga airstrip was the Trans-Ocean Airlines called the ‘Kansas City Kitty
• Also provided service via Norfolk Island, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa

US Army built Aitutaki airstrip

US Army built Penryhn airstrip