Flights resume at Mataveri Airport in Easter Island after islanders call off protest

Air service to and from the remote Easter Island, located west of Chile, has resumed after local residents lifted a blockade of the local airport, protesting against the “excessive numbers of tourists and residence-seekers” in the island.  The shutdown of the Mataveri Airport in Easter Island had led to the stranding of around 600 tourists in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Many of them were Europeans with travel packages that included a trip to the Easter Island.

Easter Island, one of the remotest outcrops in the Pacific Ocean, is situated about 3,500 kilometres (2,100 miles) west of Chile and almost half way to Tahiti.

The unique place is home to around about 2,500 islanders of Polynesian descent. Add to this nearly double that number of tourists and foreign residents, who occupy its 60-square-mile area (160 square kilometers).

About 20 protesters had occupied the runway and other areas of Mataveri Airport calling for more controls over who can come to Easter Island. They allege that the swelling population is harming the environment and the “mysterious statues” on the island.

The chief attraction of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is its famed, colossal stone heads known as Moais. The Moais, which number about 600, range in weight from 2 tons to 20 tons.

In 1995, Easter Island, considered as one of the most isolated places in the world, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Moais, which are huge statues of heads and torsos.

Of late, there has been an increase in the population of Easter Island caused by the migration of foreigners as also the mainlanders coming to the island and staying on there.

The media quoted Pablo Ortega, secretary-general of the Aviation Agency of Chile, as saying that the situation in Easter Island “is not the same as in an airport located on the mainland” and that an aircraft, which takes off for Easter Island or comes from Tahiti to Easter Island, requires landing alternatives in the event of a problem.

He stressed that the security of Mataveri Airport, located about 2,360 miles (3,800 kilometres) from the mainland, must be “absolutely guaranteed.”