The US Senate has passed a new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorisation act which also includes new provisions on the cabotage rights in American Samoa, introduced with a hope to boost inter-island traffic in the territory.
According to the new law, which still needs the approval of President Donald Trump, foreign carriers willing to serve inter-island routes between Pago Pago and Fitiuta will now have to apply for a permit once every six months. Currently, the carriers have to apply for waivers every 30 days.
The two islands are currently connected by Samoa Airways (OL, Apia Faleolo) from the independent part of Samoa, which operates between them 4x weekly. The carrier also flies 1x weekly between Pago Pago and Ofu. Pago Pago also sees limited 2x weekly passenger traffic to Honolulu operated by Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) and up to eight daily flights to Samoa's Apia Fagali'i operated by Samoa Airways, according to the ch-aviation capacity module.
American Samoa does not currently have an active airline, the ch-aviation fleets module shows. Tausani Airlines (Pago Pago) tried to launch operations with a government-owned BN-2 N684AS (msn 897) in 2017, but there has been no news about the airline since it announced its plans in early 2017.
