ASPA made a perfect landing of sort when it securedthe endorsement of the Pacific leaders for the upgrade of aviation infrastructure and systems in the islands.

This happened at the annual summit of Pacific islands leaders who are members of the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga in 2007.

George Faktaufon, secretary-general of ASPA, said the endorsement from the very top would not have happened without the help of southpacific.travel, formerly known as South Pacific Tourism Organisation.

“southpacific.travel is a member of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific, so they do have access to the annual meetings of islands leaders,” Faktaufon said.

“When they did a submission to the Forum in Tonga last year, southpacific.travel CEO Tony Everitt and his senior management were kind enough to include ASPA’s calls for improvement to the region’s aviation infrastructure.”

The result was point 14 in the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ communiqué which recognised that transport—by sea or air—underpins most economic development.

“The provision of reliable and effective air and maritime services is reducing trade costs and decreasing the barriers that distance places on the Pacific,” said the forum’s communiqué.

“Eliminating unnecessary regulation allows for the freer movement of goods and services improving access to opportunity for the peoples of the Pacific.”

Speaking on the eve of ASPA’s conference in New Zealand, Faktaufon said that since the leaders’ statement, no Forum member nation has done much to improve nor upgrade its aviation system or infrastructure.

Papua New Guinea’s national carrier believes it has found a solution to constant pilot loss that has plagued most small and medium airlines around the world.

The key says Air Niugini CEO Wasantha Kumarasiri is a single level salary and promotion structure for its pilots—whether locals or expatriates.

“Air Niugini traditionally had a salary structure where the base salary was the same for all pilots but the expatriates got exchange rate adjustments which meant they were getting more pay than national pilots who were doing the same work in the cockpit,” Kumarasiri wrote in Paradise, his airline’s inflight magazine.

Unhappy with Air New Zealand’s demands for more government subsidy for its North American service through three Polynesian islands, the Samoa Government has sought the intervention of Air Pacific and Hawaiian Airlines.

Air Pacific CEO John Campbell confirmed discussing the matter with Samoa’s deputy prime minister and his country’s minister for civil aviation Misa Telefoni.

By mid-November, Fiji’s national carrier had sent its proposal to Apia. Campbell wouldn’t disclose details of the proposal, but it’s understood Air Pacific declared its interest to service US bound passengers in Samoa, as well as Tonga and the Cook Islands.

All three countries are subsidising Air New Zealand’s Auckland to Los Angeles service with alternate stopovers in Nuku’alofa, Apia and Rarotonga. Citing declining traffic and high fuel prices, Air New Zealand is demanding more money from the three governments.

Air Pacific currently mounts six flights a week to Los Angeles from Nadi using its two leased Boeing 747. With their airports’ lacking the capacity to handle a fully-loaded jumbo jet, Fiji’s airline is reportedly proposing that it uses its two Boeing 737s to fly US bound passengers in the three islands to Nadi for connections to its regular LA service.

Two members of ASPA have teamed up to launch a Brisbane-Port Moresby service. Pacific Blue in a codeshare arrangement with Airlines PNG flies a Boeing 737-800 four times a week between the two cities.

“We’re pleased that the commencement of Pacific Blue operations will introduce a strong and successful regional competitor on the Brisbane route,” says Airlines PNG CEO John Fitzgerald.

Sky Air World will also fly into Papua New Guinea next month.

Solomon Airlines is offering one of the most attractive airfares to Brisbane, local newspaper National Express reported. With a S$1999 return from Honiara to Brisbane, the pre-Christmas special fare is hard to beat. Competition has been heating up on this route with Sky AirWorld already operating to Honiara International Airport from Brisbane. Low-cost carrier Pacific Blue takes competition to another level when it launches its Brisbane-Honiara service in December.

Flights were grounded in Papua New Guinea for two days last month when air traffic controllers went on strike. Worst affected were Air Niugini and Airlines PNG's domestic and international services.

PNG’s civil aviation authority has now promised to pay up all outstanding dues to all air controllers.

The controllers in turn have agreed that once all dues are received, there would be no more walkouts.