Saab Aircraft is discussing the setting up of a new South Pacific airline operation, in response to what it believes are unfounded complaints over the unreliability of the Saab 2000 being operated by state-owned Air Marshall Islands (AMI).
Saab blames the AMI problems on inadequate spares support and maintenance at the carrier, arguing that the aircraft is still the best option for the region's long, thin routes. Saab says that it is "confident" that the aircraft could achieve a normal 98.8% dispatch reliability on the Pacific given adequate support.
The manufacturer is talking to potential investors and local airlines about the venture, which it hopes to have in place by 1998. Saab would provide aircraft and support rather than take a shareholding. The aim is for the new airline to outsource virtually all services and sell capacity to partner airlines on a timeshare.
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped AMI airline recently lost five days service when its single Saab 2000 was grounded by propeller balance problems, which Saab says were caused by untrained staff misreading non-approved balancing equipment.
AMI's spares holdings in Fiji, which have not yet been paid for, have been taken over by Saab and, on the manufacturer's advice, major maintenance has been contracted out to Fiji's Air Pacific.
Source: Flight International
