Aviation ministers from four island nations in Micronesia are considering the launch of a joint regional airline to safeguard air transport in the region, now apparently heading toward less certain times.
Ministers from the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Kiribati have retained an Australian-based consultancy to complete a study on the region's aviation needs, with a draft report expected by the end of May. The ministers, used to collaborative ventures, will meet by the end of June to discuss options but are believed to be considering a joint regional airline.
Concerns have been prompted by shifts in traditional air services to the region. The latest change is that Aloha Airlines seems set to launch weekly flights from Honolulu through the Marshall Islands to Pohnpei, capital of the Federated States of Micronesia. Islanders have been pushing for this since September when Continental Micronesia dropped one of its three weekly flights. Aloha needs approval from the US military to refuel its Boeing 737-200 on Johnston Island, a weapons storage base midway between Hawaii and the Marshall Islands. "I am targeting June," says Jim King, Aloha's vice-president for development. Aloha is reconfiguring an aircraft for long-range flights and opening stations on Majuro, Kwajalein, and Pohnpei.
Aloha will give Continental Micronesia its first competition in over a decade. US parent Continental Airlines seems to be assimilating Continental Micronesia gradually. Gordon Bethune, Continental's chairman, says the Guam-based unit will still operate separately, but is dropping "Micronesia" from its name. Two years ago Continental bought out the last local shareholders.
Air Nauru is also cutting back. Nauru's President Dowiyogo has cited the airline as an example of the extravagance that has led Nauru, which has exhausted its phosphate reserves, from riches to rags. In an effort to instill a commercial ethic, Owen Coughlan, who took Air Nauru's helm last year, has cut unprofitable flights to use the airline's only 737 on twice-weekly Sydney-Norfolk Island charters instead.
Source: Airline Business
