Solomons flies the big jet

PASSENGERS travelling through

the south-west Pacific will soon be seeing a new airline livery at several airports Solomon Airlines is going international with its own 737-200 jet aircraft. Starting in June, the carrier will be operating out of Honiara to Au stralia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

This explosion of growth comes just three years after the government took control of the airline, then known as Solair, by buying out the 51 per cent interest held by Papua New Guinea based businessman Dennis Buchanan.

Ultimate control passed to the body now known as the Investment Corporation of Solomon Islands, which comes under the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

The new chiefs at Solair found them selves with an airline equipped with four

small planes, Slslooo in paid-up capital

and substantial debts. The whole opera

tion was badly undercapitalised.

What propelled Solomon Airlines into this new expansionary phase was the de cision by Air Pacific to sell its 737; the Fiji carrier is buying a 767, regarded as too big for the available traffic out of Honiara. The replacement 737-200 which the Honiara-based company is tak ing delivery of in June is being leased from the International Lease Finance Corporation of California for a period of between two and three years. Solomons has 18 local cabin crew, who will receive their final training in Auckland (and Air New Zealand will also be responsible for

maintaining the aeroplane). Expatriate

pilots, mostly from New Zealand, will be recruited to fly the 737.

The new schedule calls for two weekly

flights to Brisbane with one extending to Sydney; one flight to Port Moresby; one to Port Vila, and one a week (possibly two) to Nadi in Fiji. The airline will also fly once a week to Auckland, either from Nadi or Port Vila and fifth freedom rights between either of those airports and Auckland are still subject to negotia tion at the time of writing.

While this might all seem a risky com mercial enterprise, Solomons is actually taking over existing business either flights currently operated by Air Pacific or Air Niugini. The flight to Auckland is being taken from Air Nauru and therein lies a problem. Air Nauru has not been charging market fares for its service out of Auckland, instead it has been cutting rates to fill seats. Solomon Airlines will be charging standard fares, and is hoping that there will not be too much of a negative reaction to the end of what was formerly a seriously uneco nomic operation. □