Pacific island governments show no signs of heeding an aviation study that concludes they should stop owning their flag carriers.
The Australian-funded study, due out in August, will conclude that government ownership of 20 Pacific island airlines is an unwarranted draw on scarce resources, and the islands should either privatise their flag carriers or subsidise foreign carriers to operate local routes as a less-expensive alternative.
The UN Development Programme agrees and warns that some Pacific island airlines simply must go.
But the report faces resistance even before its release. Responding to its draft findings, Samoa's finance minister rejects the idea of privatising flag carrier Polynesian Airlines, for fear that unscrupulous buyers could refuse to fly unprofitable routes or simply strip the airline's assets.
Earlier attempts to privatise Solomon Airways ran foul of foreign ownership caps. Even the finance minister of Tonga, which recently lost government-owned Royal Tongan Airlines, says: "There are political and social considerations and given the isolated nature of some of our islands and communities we have to make a judgment call."
The Pacific islands have agreed to co-operate in other fields, including the recent formation of a regional air safety and certification body, but isolated island nations generally regard aviation as too important to entrust to private or foreign owners.
The tiny French-controlled islands of Wallis and Futuna, north of Fiji, illustrate this attitude. New Caledonia-based Aircalin provides the islands' only scheduled air service, but locals complain that Aircalin exploits its monopoly by charging high fares that discourage tourism. With the help of its king and local businesses, the Wallis and Futuna government is making plans to launch its own airline.
Source: Airline Business
