Rota International Airport
Rota International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Commonwealth Ports Authority | ||||||||||
| Location | Rota Island | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 607 ft / 185 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 14°10′28″N 145°14′33″E / 14.17444°N 145.24250°E | ||||||||||
| Website | cpa | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2006) | |||||||||||
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Source: Federal Aviation Administration | |||||||||||
Rota International Airport (IATA: ROP, ICAO: PGRO, FAA LID: GRO), also known as Benjamin Taisacan Manglona International Airport, is a public airport located on Rota Island in the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), near the village of Sinapalo. The airport is owned by the Commonwealth Ports Authority. During WWII the Japanese constructed a single runway which the U.S. bombed out of commission. After the Marines took control of the island 300 men from the 48th U.S.Naval Construction Battalion made the airfield operational during Sept-Oct 1945 and extended to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The runway was then used as an emergency landing strip for Tinian and Saipan airfields. In modern times it used for short commuter flights to nearby Marianas Islands.
Although most U.S. airports use the same three-letter location identifier for the FAA and IATA, Rota International Airport is assigned GRO by the FAA and ROP by the IATA (which assigned GRO to Girona–Costa Brava Airport in Girona, Spain).