Australia's call for a single South Pacific airline may fall on deaf ears in larger island nations such as Fiji and French Polynesia, but recent events suggest that the smaller and poorer nations in the region need a new approach to aviation. Since March the airlines of two small island nations have been forced to ground international flights, leaving them dependent on foreign carriers.
The first to fold was Air Kiribati, the state-owned flag carrier for Kiribati - a series of atolls scattered across the central Pacific with its capital on Tarawa. Halfway through a three-year lease on an ATR 72 turboprop, the airline and government officials concluded they could not afford it and negotiated a return of the aircraft to ATR Leasing. Air Kiribati now plans to codeshare instead on flights operated by Air Nauru.
Royal Tongan Airlines, the state-owned flag carrier for the Kingdom of Tonga, had its only Boeing 757-200 seized at Auckland airport and repossessed by its lessor for non-payment. Left with only two short-range turboprops, Royal Tongan has dropped all international service.
Air Nauru may have flown to the rescue of Air Kiribati, but it faces multiple challenges of its own. According to reports, the government of Nauru, which owns the airline, faces financial default. This has prompted Geoffrey Bowmaker, Air Nauru's chief executive, to issue a report claiming that his airline's future is "very positive". But a lawsuit by US Eximbank against it is pending in Melbourne and scheduled for trial in August. The bank seeks to repossess Air Nauru's only aircraft, a Boeing 737-400.
Things are more positive at Air Vanuatu, which is leasing another 737 part time so that it can add capacity, and start-up Palau Micronesia, which appears to have firm launch plans for July.
DAVID KNIBB BRISBANE
Source: Airline Business
