Honiara International Airport Honiara International Airport Honiara International Airport , formerly known as Henderson Field, is an airport on Guadalcanal Island in the nation of Solomon Islands. It is the only international airport in the country and is located from the capital Honiara. In 1942 the airfield was under construction by the Imperial Japanese Navy when captured by American forces, who went on to complete it. Control of the airstrip was the focus of months of fighting in the Battle for Henderson Field during the Guadalcanal campaign of World War II. Henderson Field was named for Marine Major Lofton Henderson, commanding officer of
Honiara the South Seas Evangelical Church, the United Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian churches. The name Honiara derives from "nagho ni ara" which roughly translates as "place of the east wind" or "facing the southeast wind" in one of the Guadalcanal languages. The town has not been extensively documented and little detailed material exists on it. The Battle of Henderson Field (1942), the last of the three major land offensives conducted by the Japanese during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II took place in what is now the airport area about to the east of the city