UN funding helps Cook Islands upgrade four Southern Group airports

By Andrew Curran.

The Cook Islands Government will upgrade at least four airports in the Southern Group after the United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund agreed to a ten-year, USD1.2 billion programme covering 14 Pacific countries.

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown confirmed the deal in a statement on October 29, 2026. Air Rarotonga Managing Director Ewan Smith welcomed the announcement.

“Our coral airstrips have served outer island communities for the past 50 years,” he told Aero South Pacific. “The planned upgrade of these runways is timely, coinciding with the planning for future aircraft types that will continue to deliver essential services to those communities.”

The Cook Islands Government has not said which airports are in line for an upgrade, only stating that candidate airports will be prioritised through a national planning process. Implementation will be led by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Management and Infrastructure Cook Islands.

The Southern Group of the Cook Islands contains nine of the nation’s 15 islands, including the capital, Rarotonga, and is home to roughly 90% of the total population. Other inhabited islands in the Southern Group with airports include Aitutaki, Atiu, Mauke, Mitiaro and Mangaia, although not all receive scheduled passenger flights.

Air Rarotonga is the country’s only scheduled passenger airline, linking several islands with Rarotonga (RAR), as well as operating twice-weekly flights to Papeete (PPT).

The funding is being provided through the Regional Programmatic Approach for Climate Action (RPACA), the largest climate programme the Green Climate Fund has funded in the Pacific to date. It combines a USD250 million Green Climate Fund grant with USD839 million in co-financing from the Asian Development Bank.

The Green Climate Fund is an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“This is a big result for the Cook Islands and for the Pacific,” said Prime Minister Brown. “We have said for years that the Green Climate Fund must work for small island countries, and that our funding needs to come as grants, not loans that add to our debt. RPACA delivers USD250 million in grant funding, and for us that means stronger airports in the Pa Enua, the lifelines our outer island communities depend on for travel, supplies and emergency response.”

Photo: Air Rarotonga
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com