Pohnpei Port Authority

Airport Division

The Pohnpei International Airport Emergency Plan was revised and approved by the FSM Secretary of Transportation, Communication and Infrastructure. A full life emergency exercise with the assistance of US Federal Aviation Administration, Pohnpei State Government and FSM National Government was held at the Pohnpei International Airport in August 17 2021. It is the requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that the airport holds similar emergency exercise once every two years.

The Airport Division handles the airport operations and oversees the compliance of all international and domestic aviation safety and security standards at the Pohnpei International Airport and the three additional airstrips in Mwoakilloa, Pingelap and Sapwuahfik Municipalities. The Airport Division consists of 38 employees with Mr. Ronald Reyes as the Airport Manager. The airport division is responsible for the following routine tasks:

  • Daily inspection of airport runway is conducted every time the runway is open for use after closure due to construction works and also within one hour before arrival of any aircraft to ensure that the runway is safe for use.
  • Assist all inbound and outbound aircraft with airport weather information and assign parking slots on the tarmac.
  • Monitor and log all damages to runway pavements.
  • Assist, authorize, and issue both Arrival and Departure VIP Lounge permits to users and stakeholders and ensure that all approved requests are facilitated? in accordance to proper procedures.
  • Inspect Airport Terminal areas to ensure that the terminal facility is in an orderly and clean manner. Check to ensure that all relevant stakeholders as well as ARFF, Airport Police, and AFIS personnel are available before arrival of each aircraft, to execute their respective duties.
  • Monitor use of air condition units and lights in the Air Terminal to ensure that they are turned on during plane operations and turned them off after operations.
  • Coordinate with Port Control aircraft movements to ensure that the harbor is cleared of all vessels during aircraft landing and takeoff in accordance to relevant SOP’s.
  • Airport Police responsible for Aviation Security Screening for Nauru Airline and Air Niugini.
  • Airport badge applications were issued to agencies that need to apply for permanent Airport identification cards for the current year.
  • A mutual aid agreement was secured with FSM Petroleum Company regarding airport emergencies.

Aerodrome Flight Information Services (AFIS)

The weather observers at the AFIS are tasked to provide aviation weather reports to all aircraft within the Pohnpei International Airport terminal area. They are also responsible for conducting runway self-inspections and apron inspections, plus one hour prior to aircraft arrival runway inspections and finally disseminating information such as NOTAM’s (Notice to Airmen) through the AISR system network.

Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF)

The ARFF sub-division currently has 3-fire trucks, two are model C-2 and C-4 capable of holding 1,500 gallons of water 500 gallons of concentrated foam each and one which is an older model C-5 capable of holding 1,000 gallons of water and 500 gallons of concentrated form.

Pohnpei International Airport’s airline operations is an 8-hours operations airport. There are ten firefighters on two duty schedules,with at least four fire firefighters, during every regular or tentative scheduled plane operation.