Faaa (see footnote for variant spelling) is a commune in the suburbs of Papeete in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Faaa is located on the island of Tahiti, in the administrative subdivision of the Windward Islands, themselves part of the Society Islands.
In 1988 Faaa supplanted Papeete as the most populated commune of the urban area of Papeete and of French Polynesia. Despite having more inhabitants than Papeete, the urban area is named after Papeete and Faaa is considered a suburb of Papeete due to Papeete historical importance and status as administrative capital of French Polynesia.
Faaa is the political fief of independence leader Oscar Temaru, who is currently serving as president of French Polynesia.
Faa'a International Airport is located inside the commune, approximately 5 km (3 miles) southwest from the town center of Papeete.
French Polynesia's university, the Université de la Polynésie Française, is located in Faaa.
Note
The name Faaa is sometimes spelled Faa’a in Tahitian, using the apostrophe (in fact a variant of it hard to differentiate from the regular apostrophe when using small fonts) to represent the glottal stop, as promoted by the Académie Tahitienne and accepted by the territorial government [1]. This apostrophe, however, is often omitted.
