Photo Location:
Mili MIJ (above)
Mili MIJ (above)
Air Marshall Islands: the complete picture
Air Marshall Islands, generally abbreviated to AMI, is the government-owned flag carrier of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is less a conventional commercial airline than a national transport utility: a small fleet connects communities scattered across an immense area of the central Pacific, carrying residents, officials, students, medical patients, food, mail and other essential freight.
As of June 2026, the airline is undergoing the most substantial fleet renewal in its history, replacing or supplementing ageing Dornier and Dash 8 aircraft with new Cessna SkyCouriers.
Basic facts
Air Marshall Islands is headquartered in Majuro and based at Amata Kabua International Airport, formerly known simply as Marshall Islands International Airport. Its IATA code is CW, its ICAO code is MRS, and its radio callsign is generally listed as MARSHALL ISLANDS. The current general manager and chief executive is Captain Albon Jelke. The airline is commercially operated but wholly owned by the Marshall Islands Government.
The country’s geography explains the airline’s importance. The republic comprises 29 atolls and five separate islands—about 1,225 islands and islets—spread over more than 750,000 square miles of ocean. Its total land area is only about 70 square miles. In that setting, an aircraft is not merely a faster alternative to road or ferry transport: for many communities, it is the only practical rapid connection with Majuro or Kwajalein.
How it began
The carrier was established in 1980 as the Airline of the Marshall Islands. It adopted the present Air Marshall Islands name in 1989. Its first aircraft included Australian-built GAF Nomad utility turboprops, which were suited to short and relatively basic island airstrips.
A larger Hawker Siddeley—later British Aerospace—HS 748 joined the fleet in December 1982, giving the airline greater passenger and freight capacity and allowing it to operate beyond the closest atolls. A 1983 United Nations report welcomed both the creation of the airline and the expansion of the country’s airstrip network. At that time, 19 airstrips were reported to be in use, making domestic services between Majuro and numerous outer islands possible.
The airline therefore emerged alongside the Marshall Islands’ transition from American-administered trust territory towards self-government and eventual independence. Establishing a locally controlled airline was both a practical transport measure and an expression of national development.
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