Islands Business - Aviation: CHARTER SERVICES THE WAY TO GO

Nauru’s Our Airlines flies into new territory

Samisoni Pareti
Soaring hopes to have Our Airlines as the Pacific’s real sub-regional airliner may have passed but the Nauru carrier says it has secured a niche market: charter business.

Geoffrey Bowmaker... Our Airlines CEO.

Enhanced by its association with a leading air charter company in the Pacific, Our Airlines believes it has the right aircraft and people to fly into charter business.

“In just nine months, we have flown this aircraft to more places than we did with the previous Air Nauru which we had for 13 years,” said Geoffrey Bowmaker, chief executive of Our Airlines.

“We have really earned the reputation of being a ‘can do’ company. There are very positive signs for the future and the benefits will flow to the countries we serve and to our charter customers.”

Our Airlines flies a new Boeing 737 bought for it by the Taiwanese Government after its leased aircraft was repossessed following a court order last year.

Re-launched as Our Airlines late last year, the Nauru Government offered its carrier as a sub-regional airliner, in a partnership it hoped would see northern and central islands of the Pacific acquiring shares in the airline.

The initiative received the support of the Pacific Islands Forum which had since commissioned a feasibility study into Our Airlines as a sub-regional airline model. The study was to have been completed last month.

Bowmaker said the airline was waiting for the completion of the study before it decided on future plans. Already the concept for a regional airliner had met with fierce resistance from Fiji and the Solomons.

Both countries opted to support their own national carriers with Fiji’s Air Pacific refusing to give up the Nadi/Tarawa routes that used to be serviced by Our Airlines’ predecessor, Air Nauru.

Even Our Airlines’ application to have its island hopping service linking Brisbane with Honiara-Nauru-Majuro and Tarawa to terminate in Nadi was blocked by the Fiji Government.

Nauru was told its agreement with Fiji only allowed the airline to fly between Nauru and Fiji with no third country stopover.

And with the Fiji Government refusing to sign the Pacific Islands Air Services Agreement (PIASA), opting instead to rely on its bilateral air services agreements, Suva cannot be forced into opening up its air space.

The Solomons government has also refused to give up its lucrative Brisbane/Honiara route to the Nauru-based carrier.

Bowmaker admitted that since its re-launch late last year, the first six months had been difficult.

The airline has had to change its business plans and “fine-tune” its operations. But with its new business stream of air charter business, Our Airlines CEO said the company could now work on its route expansion plans in the Pacific.