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Old 26th Apr 2004, 01:52
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Blown Seal
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
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Below MDA,

The king's son is actually the Chairman of the Board, not ceo, who is an ex NZ CAA inspector/ Air NZ QA manager. However you are correct, corruption is rife throughout the kingdom. Having spent a little time in PNG there are some unfortunate parallels between the two countires. And the situation here is only getting worse.

Mid last year when discussing foreign aid for South Pacific nations the Australian Gov't strongly suggested the formation of a "Regional" Airline for the countries that cannot (obviously see RTA) afford to run their own international operations. The benefits of getting some profit by sharing a company compared to massive losses going it alone is just common sense. Unfortunately common sense isn't that common. Especially in the South Pacific where it seems more important to play "who has the biggest..." between nations, a throwback to tribal rivalry.

Back to RTA for a moment, unless the government give a fairly large, immediate cash injection the whole airline will cease operations by the end of May, just before the Church conference, the busiest time of the year. Hopefully there is some money left in the piggy bank for the govt to hand out.
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