SOLOMON Airlines international flights remained suspended yesterday because the financially-struggling airline had not met lease payments for its Embraer 170 jet..........
The regional news magazine Islands Business reported this month that the Government has paid $22 million to support Solomon Airlines since it leased the E-170 this year.
Solomon Airlines is in deep trouble.
The Islands Business report said the $22 million of Government funding went to:
meet the lease and associated costs of the E-170;
l pay staff salary increases of up to 14 per cent;
l and for the hiring of executives lured from Air Vanuatu.
Islands Business reported the airline’s financial woes came to light in June when staff salaries were paid three days late.
Islands Business said there are constant capacity problems with the E-170, with luggage, freight and passengers offloaded.
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Meanwhile, there are reports a team from Air Vanuatu is coming to Honiara this week to discuss the launch of a Honiara-Port Vila-Brisbane and return service.
Air Vanuatu general manager Terry Kerr confirmed they were planning to fly a Honiara-Port Vila route some time later in the year.
Air Vanuatu plans to start operating a 185-seat Boeing 737-800 from January, replacing its present 135-seat Boeing 737-300.
Asked if Air Vanuatu would lease a 76-seat E-170 aircraft, Mr Kerr said “absolutely not”.
He said Air Vanuatu has opted to go for the larger Boeing 737-800 as passenger numbers in the region are continually increasing.
“We felt to go to a smaller aircraft would not make any sense at all apart from obvious operating limitations that EMB 170 would have on our routes such as weight limitations,” he said.
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