Talofa Airways (Apia Faleolo) is looking to start scheduled international flight operations in 2020, chief executive Jeffrey Hunter told Smart Aviation Asia-Pacific earlier this month. In June, the privately-owned Samoan carrier signalled plans to fly to Niue as well as Wallis and Futuna Island Pointe Vele.
According to Hunter, Talofa Airways plans to start services to at least one of the two destinations “sometime next year if possible" given their shared cultural history and heritage.
“Niue, and Wallis and Futuna have always been goals for us. The market, of course, is non-existent now, because there has not been a socio-economic connection for so long. But we think they are important routes to open because we are very much culturally linked,” he said.
Talofa Airways currently operates three Commander 690Bs on scheduled flights between Apia Fagali'i and Apia Faleolo in Samoa and Pago Pago in American Samoa. It also offers charters from the two Samoas to Tongatapu in Tonga.
The Aero Design and Engineering Company turboprops will likely remain a workhorse of the airline's fleet given what Hunter termed the "prohibitive" fuel-carrying costs of operating "larger Twin Otter style aircraft”.
At present, state-owned Samoa Airways (OL, Apia Faleolo) operates three 40-year-old DHC-6-300s on scheduled flights between Apia Fagali'i and Pago Pago in addition to domestic services within American Samoa.
