Solomons - Solomon Airlines (IE, Honiara) has suspended all flights to Santa Cruz/Graciosa Bay/Luova, effective immediately, due to a dispute between the landowners and the government. The service usually runs 2x weekly using DHC-6 equipment. Solomons had pulled their Dash 8-100 from the route earlier due to the poor condition of the runway.
Located in the easternmost part of Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz region is now effectively cut-off as it takes weeks to travel there by ship, reports Radio NZ.
Spokesperson for the airline, Colin Sigimanu, said that the matter was out of their hands. "It is to be resolved between the claimants of the land where the airstrip is located and the government," he said. However, he is hopeful that the dispute will be resolved and flights will resume shortly.
Sigimanu said that land disputes were a problem for the airline as 80% of airstrips in the archipelago nation are on private land. Flights to Atoifi were stopped at the end of 2016 due to a dispute between landowners and airport administrators, and flights to Auki island were suspended from 2013 to 2016 for similar reasons.
Solomons is the largest carrier of the Pacific archipelago nation, flying to twenty-three domestic and international destinations. Its fleet consists of one A320-200, four DHC-6-300s (one in storage), BN-2s and one Dash 8-100
