The Governor of American Samoa, Lolo Moliga, has written a letter to US President Donald Trump, supporting Samoa Airways' plan to operate direct flights to Hawaii and then onwards to the US mainland, Radio New Zealand has reported.
The Samoan carrier currently holds cabotage rights albeit to operate within American Samoa, specifically from the capital, Pago Pago, to Ofu and Fitiuta. However, it would need extended cabotage rights to operate directly between American Samoa, a US territory, and the US proper.
There are no active airlines in American Samoa, the ch-aviation PRO airlines module shows.
Samoa Airways previously floated the idea of flying from Pago Pago via Apia Faleolo to the US. Such operations would not require cabotage rights.
The airline has yet to formally apply to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for an extension of cabotage rights.
According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Pago Pago's only link with the US is a 2x weekly service to Honolulu operated by Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu). Samoa, in turn, sees weekly services to Honolulu operated by Fiji Airways (FJ, Nadi).
