Solomon Airlines enters new aviation partnership

Solomon Airlines has hailed a new partnership Melanesian aviation partnership accord.

Fellow Melanesian airlines Air Nuigini and Air Vanuatu have teamed up to combine resources with the Solomon Islands national carrier to jointly develop and promote partnership in aviation services.

Seen as offering major benefits to the Melanesian region, the three airlines signed an initial agreement in Honiara last week agreeing to work in unison to assist and promote better the ideals of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG).

MSG is an intergovernmental organisation, composed of the four Melanesian states of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front of New Caledonia, to orchestrate preferential trade agreements and support economic development within its membership.

A key outcome of this meeting will see the three airlines entering into a tri-partite code share arrangement on the Port Moresby/Honiara/Port Villa route.

Expected to commence in June 2015, the code share agreement will see Air Vanuatu and Solomon Airlines utilising an Air Niugini Fokker 100 aircraft on the route.

The code share will form the basis for further corporation and other similar arrangements promoting aviation collaboration among Melanesian Spearhead Group carriers.

The Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau (SIVB) has thrown its full support behind the decision by the airlines to combine resources to jointly develop and promote aviation services between Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Speaking from the SIVB’s Honiara head office, CEO Josefa Tuamoto said the agreement signed last week in the Solomon Islands capital represents what he described as “massive potential” for intra-Melanesia travel.

“While all three airlines operate into a number of Australian cities, the opportunity this agreement holds for the region is further exacerbated when you take into account Air Niugini services into several key Asian destinations and Air Vanuatu services into New Zealand,” Tuamoto said.

“Not only is this a great outcome for all three airlines, it is also a fantastic result for all three countries’ tourism aspirations and a wonderful example of true Melanesian brotherhood hard at work.”

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