Solomon Airlines pulls jet from route
An AAP report says that the financially-troubled Solomon Airlines has had a jet pulled from its Brisbane to Honiara route after failing to meet lease payments to a Queensland air charter company, but a rival Victorian company looks ready to step in to fill the gap.
Solomon Airlines provides the main air link between the Solomons and Australia, flying seven times a week between Brisbane and Honiara, but use of the Brazilian-made Embraer 170 jet on the route was suspended on Friday by Brisbane-based SkyAirWorld because of overdue lease payments.
SkyAirWorld’s chief executive officer David Charlton said Solomon Airlines had indicated it hoped to have everything back on track and the plane back in service soon, adding that suspension of flights due to non-payment of lease fees had happened once before since his company started flying for Solomon Airlines on May 20.
“But I see this as a hiccup, not a major issue,” Charlton said.
However, Solomon Airlines has turned to another Australian air charter company, Melbourne-based OzJet, to fly the route, at least in the interim, with an OzJet Boeing 737-200 flying the route on Saturday and on Tuesday.
OzJet’s chief executive officer Willie O’Neill said his company was in discussions with Solomon Airlines to “rebuild their schedule”, adding, SkyAirWorld had contracted to use a 76-seat aircraft but it could only carry 55 passengers on the route and this was not returning enough money for Solomon Airlines.
“The aircraft was inappropriate.” “We will be in discussions with Solomon Airlines to hopefully address the shortfall,” O’Neill said.
In a bid to turn around the fortunes of Solomon Airlines, the Solomons government recently appointed a new board, headed by Solomons Central Bank Governor Rick Hou, but he and airline executives were in a meeting and could not be contacted.
The Solomons government has pumped millions of Solomon dollars into the airline since it leased the Embraer in an effort to help resolve the carrier’s troubles.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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