Talair’s again under threat

PAPUA New Guinea’s largest third level airline, Talair, is once again under threat. In the short term it seems certain the carrier will abandon some of its domestic routes, but there is also the possibility that the airline could close altogether. The airline’s owner, Dennis Buchanan, several months ago announced he was closing the airline and leaving the country because he felt there was an anti-foreigner attitude among the Public Service, a move which was averted only after negotiations with Prime Minister Rabbie Namaliu.

But it seems that Buchanan’s feelings

were only temporarily assuaged: the

prospect of Talair reducing its services is once again a reality. The issue this time is air fare increases. Buchanan had been waiting for four months for approval to raise fares by 15 per cent, by the time the Government decided to allow some increases, Talair’s owner had clearly become exasperated, and Price Controller Morea Vele admitted the 14 per cent increase allowed third level carriers would not be sufficient to deter Buchanan from scaling down his operations.

Reports suggested that Talair before the Government’s announcement on fares was losing about K 250,000 (U 55245,000). The company had been hit by the depreciation of the kina against the US dollar, climbing fuel

prices and domestic inflation over the past four years.

Talair traffic manager Brian Peters sent a memo to all area managers at the beginning of July advising that the air line would be selling off all its eight Cessna 402 s within a few weeks, and that all the 11 Islander aircraft would be on the market by late August. The memo also said that several branch offices would be closed, including Rabaul, Hos kins, Wau, Kaintiba, Kereman, Popon delta, Daru, Vanimo, Tari and Mendi.

The office in Kavieng had been shut be fore the memo was sent out. Local re ports said 400 employees faced the axe, that the Dash 8 part of the fleet would be transferred to Australia by Novem ber, and that Talair would be completely wound up by the end of the year, The loss of Talair services would sever a lifeline for some of the more remote parts of Papua New Guinea places which rely entirely on air services for transport links to the outside world, Talair also carried Government payrolls to remote areas, and hauls agricultural produce out to the market towns.

Buchanan pulled out of Vanuatu last year, closing down his Air Melanesie and selling or transferring its aircraft, after the Government in Port Vila announced that domestic aviation would become a state monopoly. □

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