page_title: Kiribati
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: Kiribati / Economy / Transport
caption_attribution_description: Bonriki International Airport, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands, Kiribati
context_page_description: Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an independent country in the central Pacific Ocean. The permanent population is just over 110,000, more than half of whom live on Tarawa atoll. The state comprises 32 atolls and one raised coral island, Banaba. They have a total land area of 811 square kilometres and are dispersed over 3.5 million km².
  Their spread straddles the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line goes round Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching the 150° W meridian. This brings Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands south of Hawaii, into the same day as the Gilbert Islands and places them in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14. Kiribati is one of the few countries in the world to be situated in all four hemispheres.
  Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979. The capital, South Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa atoll.
context_section_description: Kiribati has had two domestic airlines: Air Kiribati and Coral Sun Airways. Both airlines are based in Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport and serve destinations across the Gilbert Islands only: Banaba and the Phoenix Islands are not served by the domestic carriers.
  Cassidy International Airport on Kiritimati has an international service provided by Fiji Airways: Nadi to Cassidy Airport and then to Honolulu.
caption: Bonriki International Airport.
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