Solomons - Solomon Airlines (IE, Honiara) Chief Executive Officer Brett Gebers has clarified local media reports surrounding alleged plans to sell off the airline's only DHC-8-100 in favour of an all Twin-Otter fleet.
This followed a report in the Solomon Star citing unnamed sources that Gebers had told a board meeting of plans to dispose of the company-owned aircraft, H4-SOL (msn 289), currently in maintenance at Perth International.
However, he subsequently told the Sunday Isles newspaper that there were no definite plans, but that the airline was regularly reviewing its fleet composition in line with passenger demand.
“There may be opportunities to replace the Dash-8 with a more suitable aircraft type. The only way we can find out is to look at the numbers and all the alternative options,” he explained.
“On January 19, the Solomon Islands announced domestic travel restrictions which are currently still in place. This has significantly reduced the number of passengers traveling. We have no choice but to regularly look at the composition of our fleet to see if it is still appropriate for the expected passenger demand. We do this at least every year,” he added.
Currently, the airline’s fleet consists of one A320-200 leased from Carlyle Aviation Partners and four in-house turboprops used on domestic routes, including three DHC-6-300s and the one Dash-8-100, the ch-aviation fleets module reveals.
