Nauru Airlines to launch weekly flights from Pohnpei and Kosrae
Starting on June 12, Nauru Airlines, the national airlines of Nauru will begin weekly services to Pohnpei and Kosrae through to the South Pacific, according to CEO Geoff Bowmaker.
Bowmaker arrived in Pohnpei on a Nauru Airlines charter at the end of the first full week of May.
During his time in Pohnpei he met with travel and cargo agents as well as government officials in order to complete preparations for the new flight schedule. For several years now, flights from the North Pacific to the South Pacific were circuitous and often took several days.
United had a short lived flight directly from Guam to Nadi, Fiji. Before and since that time fliers have been routed through Hawaii on the island hopper and then back to Fiji. Other options included a Guam to Incheon, South Korea flight which then flew double digit hours back down to Fiji.
The Nauru Airlines flights will connect Pohnpei and Kosrae to Majuro, Tarawa and Nauru. From Nauru, the airline also offers connecting flights to Nadi, Fiji and Brisbane, Australia from which the whole of the South Pacific can be accessed.
“These flights will facilitate and encourage more travel and trade between the North, Central and Southern Pacific region bringing family and business ties much closer together as well as generate more visitors into the FSM from the Central and Southern Pacific area,” Bowmaker said.
The services will operate northbound into FSM on Fridays and will return southbound in the early Sunday morning hours.
Bowmaker says that Nauru Airlines intentionally set up its new route schedule in order to avoid competing directly with United Airlines. So far, he says, United Airlines and Nauru Airlines have established a good working relationship and will be sharing facilities.
When asked if he thought that the new airline would attract enough passengers to stay afloat, he said that they don’t need to fly hundreds of passengers from each stop, just enough. He learned as they set the route up that many people in Kosrae have family relations in Nauru and vice versa. Nauru was nearly impossible, or at least cost prohibitive for them to access by air in the past. Once the new route commences they will be able to do so.
All of Nauru Airlines five planes are Boeing 737-300s which were last produced in 1999. Boeing sold its last 737-300 to Air New Zealand in that year and Nauru Airlines purchased their planes from them. Its four passenger jets can carry 130 passengers with adaptable seating arrangements that can include expandable or retractable business or economy classes. They also have a cargo plane that has been doing significant business throughout the region.
Bowmaker says that their cabin staff has a friendly “family approach” and that customers will be surprised at the quality of their in-flight meals which has been praised by countless travelers.
According to a press release from the FSM Public Information Office, President Christian transmitted an updated FSM-Nauru Civil Air Transport Agreement [on May 20] that would update the previous agreement the airline had with the FSM. The agreement that would allow for the new service is up for Congress ratification.
SOURCE: THE KASELEHLIE PRESS/PACNEWS
Bowmaker arrived in Pohnpei on a Nauru Airlines charter at the end of the first full week of May.
During his time in Pohnpei he met with travel and cargo agents as well as government officials in order to complete preparations for the new flight schedule. For several years now, flights from the North Pacific to the South Pacific were circuitous and often took several days.
United had a short lived flight directly from Guam to Nadi, Fiji. Before and since that time fliers have been routed through Hawaii on the island hopper and then back to Fiji. Other options included a Guam to Incheon, South Korea flight which then flew double digit hours back down to Fiji.
The Nauru Airlines flights will connect Pohnpei and Kosrae to Majuro, Tarawa and Nauru. From Nauru, the airline also offers connecting flights to Nadi, Fiji and Brisbane, Australia from which the whole of the South Pacific can be accessed.
“These flights will facilitate and encourage more travel and trade between the North, Central and Southern Pacific region bringing family and business ties much closer together as well as generate more visitors into the FSM from the Central and Southern Pacific area,” Bowmaker said.
The services will operate northbound into FSM on Fridays and will return southbound in the early Sunday morning hours.
Bowmaker says that Nauru Airlines intentionally set up its new route schedule in order to avoid competing directly with United Airlines. So far, he says, United Airlines and Nauru Airlines have established a good working relationship and will be sharing facilities.
When asked if he thought that the new airline would attract enough passengers to stay afloat, he said that they don’t need to fly hundreds of passengers from each stop, just enough. He learned as they set the route up that many people in Kosrae have family relations in Nauru and vice versa. Nauru was nearly impossible, or at least cost prohibitive for them to access by air in the past. Once the new route commences they will be able to do so.
All of Nauru Airlines five planes are Boeing 737-300s which were last produced in 1999. Boeing sold its last 737-300 to Air New Zealand in that year and Nauru Airlines purchased their planes from them. Its four passenger jets can carry 130 passengers with adaptable seating arrangements that can include expandable or retractable business or economy classes. They also have a cargo plane that has been doing significant business throughout the region.
Bowmaker says that their cabin staff has a friendly “family approach” and that customers will be surprised at the quality of their in-flight meals which has been praised by countless travelers.
According to a press release from the FSM Public Information Office, President Christian transmitted an updated FSM-Nauru Civil Air Transport Agreement [on May 20] that would update the previous agreement the airline had with the FSM. The agreement that would allow for the new service is up for Congress ratification.
SOURCE: THE KASELEHLIE PRESS/PACNEWS
Post a Comment