Tahiti govt, takes
p. 33 · Read in the full issue
over second airline - What price co-operation?
Following its acquisition of the inter-island carrier, Air Tahiti, the government of French Polynesia has announced its take-over of the territory’s second domestic airline, Air Polynesie. The government paid CFPSOO million (about Austs4.s million), less than half the company’s opening price of CFP1200,000,000 (Austslo.B million).
Air Polynesie has 480 em ployees, and provides inter island transport with a fleet of five Fokker F27s and two DHC Twin Otters. It also has signifi cant maintenance and catering contracts with Qantas (six flights a week), Air New Zealand (six), UTA (14), Lan Chile (two), Polynesian Airlines (two), and the French military air service COTAM (two).
The assumption is that local government president, Gaston
Flosse, seeks to create a regio nal airline wearing the colors of French Polynesia.
The purchase added to the attention currently being given to Pacific islands aviation in the wake of preliminary efforts made at the South Pacific Forum at Rarotonga in August to examine such ideas as a multi-national regional airline.
There is great pessimism about such a project yet, according to many experts, the smaller is land countries have no chance of keeping an interest in the industry without participation in such a cooperative.
Solomon Islands also recent ly purchased the remaining shares of its airline, Solair, held by outside interests thus weakening, rather than strengthening, the idea of regio nal cooperation.
A workhorse F27 of Air Polynesie ... a bargain purchase by the Flosse-led government. La Depeche de Tahiti photo.