Île Ouen/Edmond Cané Airport

The closure was primarily due to economic and logistical reasons. Maintaining a remote airstrip to required safety standards for a very small island population (approximately 200-300 inhabitants) was not economically viable. The lack of sustained demand for air services, combined with the high costs of maintenance and oversight, led to its formal closure. The island is adequately served by more cost-effective maritime transport (ferries and water taxis) to the main island, Grande Terre.

As of the latest satellite imagery and official records, the airport is permanently closed and defunct. The physical outline of the runway is still clearly visible at the coordinates (-22.460295, 166.782718), but it is no longer maintained. The grass surface is unkept and shows signs of being overgrown, making it unsuitable for any aviation use. There was never significant infrastructure on the site, and no terminal buildings or hangars remain. The land has effectively reverted to an open field within the community.

Île Ouen/Edmond Cané Airport, which had the official ICAO code NWWO (NC-0007 is an unofficial identifier used in some non-governmental databases), served as a critical lifeline for the isolated Kanak community of Ouara on Île Ouen. It was named in honor of Edmond Cané, a former mayor of Mont-Dore, the municipality that includes the island. The airport consisted of a single, approximately 700-meter unpaved grass and dirt runway. Operations were limited to general aviation and air taxi services using Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft, such as the Britten-Norman Islander. Its primary roles were providing essential passenger transport to and from Nouméa, facilitating critical medical evacuations (known as EVASAN in the French system), and delivering urgent supplies.

There are no known or published plans to reopen Île Ouen/Edmond Cané Airport. The significant investment required to restore the runway, ensure it meets modern safety regulations, and subsidize operations would be prohibitive given the small population and the existence of reliable sea transport. The prospect of reopening is considered extremely low to non-existent.