There are a number of airports in the Tonga Islands. However, not all Tonga airports have regularly scheduled flights. We do not list the smallest Tonga airports, since there is no way to provide you flights from those airports. AirGorilla offers flights, hotels, and rental car reservations for Tonga.
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan for "south"), is an independent archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. It lies about a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa and east of Fiji.
The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands, the name given by Captain Cook because of the friendly reception he received. He happened to arrive at the time of 'inasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tu'i Tonga and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan.
By the 12th century, Tongans, and the Tongan paramount chief, the Tu'i Tonga, were known across the Pacific, from Niue to Tikopia, sparking some historians to refer to a 'Tongan Empire'. A network of interacting navigators, chiefs, and adventurers might be a better term although the empire did have its own dynasties. In the 15th century and again in the 17th, civil war erupted. It was in this context that the first Europeans arrived, beginning with Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire in 1616, who called on the northern island of Niuatoputapu, and Abel Tasman, who visited Tongatapu and Ha'apai in 1643.
Tonga became a British protected state under a Treaty of Friendship on 18 May 1900, when European settlers and rival Tongan chiefs tried to oust the second king. The Treaty of Friendship and Tonga's protectorate status ended in 1970 under arrangements established prior to her death by Queen Salote Tupou III. Tonga joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970 (atypically as an autochthonous monarchy, that is one with its own hereditary monarch rather than Elizabeth II), and the United Nations in September 1999.
Tonga is an archipelago in the South Pacific consisting of 169 islands, 36 of them inhabited, and is divided into three main groups – Vava'u, Ha'apai, and Tongatapu, which together cover an 800 kilometre (500 mi) long north–south line. The largest island, Tongatapu, on which the capital city of Nuku'alofa is located, covers 257 square kilometres (99 sq mi). Geologically, the Tongan islands generally comprise two types: volcanic islands rising directly from the ocean floor (e.g. Kao and Tofua in the Ha'apai group), and seismically uplifted coral limestone islands overlaying an older volcanic base (e.g. Tongatapu).
The climate is basically subtropical with a distinct warm period (December–April), during which the temperatures rise above 32 C (90 F), and a cooler period (May–November), with temperatures rarely rising above 27 C (80 F). The temperature and rainfall increases as one moves from Tongatapu in the south to the more northerly islands closer to the Equator.
The tourist industry is relatively undeveloped; however, the government recognizes that tourism can play a major role in economic development, and efforts are being made to increase this source of revenue. Cruise ships often stop in Nuku'alofa and Vava'u. ()
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