What I thought was curious about this airport was that yes, it is indeed very small and very basic (the departure lounge included outdoor seating overlooking the tarmac - a small waist-high fence separating you from the apron), but the flights in and out were on brand new 787s!

Easter Island really does feel very remote though. Even though the 787s are jam-packed with tourists, you're flying due-west from Chile for 6 hours to a tiny spec in the middle of the pacific. The in-flight map was mostly just entirely blank the whole time since the island itself is so tiny it didn't really show up!

In the museum there they had some really interesting exhibits about how the original inhabitants used interesting navigation aids to find land - e.g. looking for the directions birds were flying or sea-turtles were swimming, or the sea swell etc. Fascinating stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation#Navigati...