Royal Tongan seeks a place in the sky

By Beryl Cook

ROYAL Tongan Airlines is no fly-by-night airline; it is prepared to work day and night to boost tourism for Tonga and the region, accord ing to its general manager, Christian Kaltenborn-Stachau.

Brushing aside skepticism that Royal Tongan Airlines’s inter national efforts will be costly and short-lived, Kaltenborn- Stachau said he is confident that careful planning and recognis ing the limitations will help Royal Tongan Airlines reach for the sky. “Times are over when you can build an airline on a loan and a prayer,” he told

Pacific Islands Monthly, before

proceeding to detail the airline’s progress and future plan.

“I will admit the airline has not been making a profit in the past. It has been in domestic operation since 1985 and, like any other operator of 16-seater aircraft, it is just not possible to make a profit on such aircraft.

The Government is realising this and is subsidising the company to assure all the islands the air services which are so vital to them. I see this aspect as a public service.

“But the international service is a different thing. It was started on July 1 of this year when we started flying to Auckland for the first time. Surprisingly enough, the service to Auckland is already in the black figures. Normally, one expects this to take about six months but we broke even after only four months.”

Kaltenborn-Stachau believes that branching out on the New Zealand and Fiji routes will take the airline beyond being a public service, and help boost tourism for Tonga and the region.

He is optimistic about the Fiji-Tonga service, which was officially inaugurated on November 11 after a few hiccups over landing rights. (The bilateral agreement did not permit Royal Tongan Airlines to

originate flights in Fiji.)

He said Royal Tongan Airlines had a crucial role to play in Tonga’s aim of tapping into the tourist market.

“Fiji is now the second hub of the Pacific, many international flights are going there and we are connecting with quite a number of flights on Monday, so any international travellers from say Australia, North America, or Canada

can easily connect with Royal Tongan Airlines and come to the Kingdom of

Tonga.”

He acknowledged there was competition from Air Pacific.

“But it is a fact that they have been enjoying the proceeds from that route for practically 30 years all by themselves, anc j i t i s an internationally accepted fact that the traffic between two sovereign countries is always shared by the national carriers of these countries.

“So whilst we are competitors on the sales side we are of course colleagues, and Royal Tongan Airlines will obviously be pleased to support Air Pacific whenever we can. I suggest this is going to be vice versa too.”

He believes sufficient demand exists to make the route profitable for Royal Tongan Airlines, and that Royal Tongan Airlines can satisfy a certain type of demand. “We feel the jet is superior to a propeller driven aircraft on that route and after a certain time people w.l realise that and start flying Royal Tongan Airlines on that day. So I expect traffic will build up.

“We are presently offering a service on

Monday a Boeing 737 jet and travelling time is just about one hour 20 minutes. We offer business class, can take all the luggage, and have plenty of cargo space in addition. Do we have something to offer?

Yes, we do,”

Kaltenborn-Stachau said Royal Tongan Airlines could start a twice weekly service to Fiji “in the not too distant future”.

He says Australia is not an option at this stage.

“We may in the future but not alone, not without an other airline. The Australian market with 16 million people is obviously more interesting than New Zealand with 3 million, but it is further away and requires different aircraft.

That will be a different one.”

When he looks back at the progress of the past few months he is pleased.

“We have got our fleet fixed up again. We have just started our summer schedule which shows 65 per cent more flights than before. We have introduced round trip fares which did not exist before.

We are giving much much better service to the islands now.”

He lists highlights of the past four months as: B establishing a scheduled courtesy bus service between Nuku’alofa and the airport for every incoming and outcom ing flight; • An office in Nuku’alofa where passen gers can check in, offload their luggage, receive a boarding pass, then relax in the lounge before travelling to the airport by Royal Tongan Airlines’s bus. The down town cargo business also allows people to deliver small parcels. Enlarged their reservation and sales office, and estab lished a sales manager for Nukualofa, opened up their own offices in Ha apai and Vava’u.

He believes the money invested by R j Tongan Airlines will pay off, by -j Tonga a leg into tourism, particuj a rly from new markets, , „ . u- The South aciic is ig news i Europe right now. The European touns s have been all over Europe all over Nor h America an ou me i • region is off-limits for now, Africa is out of and, yes, t e ou aci i , is.

Kaltenborn-Stachau: there's room for another service