Tongan Airlines crashes
From AFP
20may04
ROYAL Tongan Airlines had collapsed after a lack of funds forced it to halt inter-island services, following the end of its international operations last month, a report said yesterday.
The South Pacific airline's NZ division stopped services and laid off 100 workers after the only aircraft it was still flying, a Shorts 306, broke down and it could not pay for repairs, the Matangi Tonga magazine website said.
A Twin Otter aircraft had already been grounded due to a lack of funds for repairs.
Royal Tongan's international services were grounded in April when Royal Brunei Airlines repossessed a leased Boeing 757 passenger aircraft.
The Tongan Government said last week its financial involvement in the airline covered nearly 14 million Tongan pa'anga (about $5 million) in capital commitments and bank guarantees, as well as unpaid landing fees. The Government has pumped 20 million pa'anga into the airline since its inception in 1985.
Tonga now has no domestic air service but is served by four international carriers.
The magazine said the airline's administration was hoping the Government, the sole shareholder, would step in and bail them out.
Royal Tongan's management has been in closed meetings and made no immediate comment.
The airline's collapse is the second financial disaster in four years for the archipelago north of New Zealand, which has 110,000 people.
King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV lost $26.5 million, or about 40 per cent of the Government's annual revenue, to his court jester, Californian Jessie Bogdonoff, who had made doubtful investments. US court action failed to recover any of the money.