A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam

It has been 40 years since the creation of the A.B. Won Pat International Airport Authority, Guam (GIAA).

GIAA was created as a government entity by public law - P.L. 13-57. Prior to the enactment, the airport business was handled as a division of the Department of Commerce until January 1976 when the Airport Authority took over terminal operations in the facility, the former Commuter Terminal, and now a leased facility. At that time, the only three carriers using the facility and servicing Guam were Pan American Airways, Continental Air Micronesia and Japan Airlines.

Since then, GIAA has built two new terminal buildings. The first one, funded by $43M in revenue bonds was completed in 1982 and was referred to as the "white elephant" because most island leaders thought it would never reach capacity. However, within its fifth year of tenancy and operations, the first terminal was over-crowded and bursting at the seams with passengers.

The second and current terminal is the end product of a $241M expansion and construction project fully completed in September of 1998, making it the largest single capital improvement project ever completed on Guam.

GIAA has embarked on an aggressive capital improvement program of priority projects that infused $167Million into the Guam economy in 2014. These projects are funded by the successful sale of $247M in General Revenue Bonds sold in September 2013.