Tuilaepa stands by decision to revoke Virgin’s licence
FIJI AIRWAYS HELPING CLEAR VIRGIN AUCKLAND PROBLEM
Fiji Airways will help Samoa Airways get people who bought Virgin Australia tickets from Auckland to Samoa. Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi highlighted this following his government’s decision to reject an application by Virgin Australia to continue flights from Auckland to Samoa’s Faleolo International Airport.
“This is part of our memorandum of understanding with Fiji Airways,” said. The Samoan Government has reached out to both Samoa Airways and Fiji Airways, and is happy to confirm their willingness to offer to assist all passengers that are currently booked on Auckland to Apia, Virgin flights.
A Government statement said: “For a simple migration fee from Virgin Australia, Samoa Airways is willing to assist the passengers affected.
“Samoa Airways and Fiji Airways will not impose any fees, or extra costs to passengers seeking a transfer.
“The Fiji Airways offer to assist, will include a transit stop-over in Nadi, but there are no plans to seek extra costs from passengers for that route. Rather it will be discussed between airlines.” Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Tuilaepa said his government would not yield to threats made by officials within the Australian government.
The Prime Minister blasted Virgin Australia for selling Auckland-Samoa tickets when they do not have a licence to operate after 5 December 2017.
Samoa is instead launching its own airline, Samoa Airways and working with Fiji Airways.
Tuilaepa called Virgin Australia “stupid” for their actions.
“The licence will expire when the joint venture expires,” he reiterated. The Virgin Samoa joint venture between the Samoan government, Virgin Australia and Samoa’s Grey Investment Group expires on 5 December 2017.
“We had written to them informing them that what they are doing is illegal, and there was no response,” Tuilaepa said. “However, the airline was hiding behind officials of a ministry with the Australian Government who came here and made threats, noting that we (Samoa Airways) are flying to Australia as well.
“And that is why we have told them they can fly directly from Australia to Samoa and we will do the same.
“They (Virgin Australia) don’t want that. “They want to fly to New Zealand then to Samoa, but see we don’t want that, we want them to fly directly from Australia to Samoa.”
“We (Samoa Airways) will be serving the New Zealand route and they can focus on the Australia route to Samoa.”
He pointed out the negotiations with the Virgin Australia revealed that they did not want to continue the joint venture with their aircraft.
“They proposed for us to have a joint venture with their smaller plane, called Tiger Air. A proposal the government will not entertain nor accept. They don’t have a license to operate in Samoa,” he said. According to the Prime Minister, Virgin Australia cannot come to Samoa as they do not accept the conditions that the airfares must be lowered.
“From the beginning they have already told us that there are not that many passengers, hence the limited flights in and out of Samoa,” Tuilaepa said.
“We have requested to increase their flights, but they were adamant there were not that many passengers to justify the additional flights. And so we had to make changes on our own, given that not only the flights were limited, but the airfares were expensive and it had a huge impact on us. “They kept on saying that there were no passengers to justify the additional flights. Ironically, as soon as we announced our new airline, they have added more flights, saying they have additional passengers. “What a bunch of lies,” said Tuilaepa. He reiterated “They don’t have a licence yet they kept on selling their tickets, which is such a stupid thing to do.
“The only licence that allows them to fly to Samoa is through the joint venture licence, that is what the fuss is all about.
“The door is always open for Virgin Australia to obtain a licence to operate directly from Australia to Samoa and back.” The Prime Minister assured they will offer assistance to all passengers that are currently booked on Virgin flights from Auckland to Apia.
The Samoan government issued the following press statement about the issue.
Virgin Air Service Licence revoked
Virgin Australia has made press statements regarding the decision of the Samoan Government to decline an Auckland - Apia Air Service under the operating Licences sought by Virgin Australia International (V.A.I). (License)
This decision should not have come as a surprise to VAI, as the previous License was granted on the basis of the joint venture with the Government. That arrangement comes to an end on 13th November 2017.
Further our government officials have previously made efforts to notify Virgin that they should stop selling Auckland – Apia tickets beyond the 13th November date, without the proper approvals.
To date, our government has received no direct response from Virgin to those communications. The efforts to contact Virgin included offers to discuss the License with Virgin officials. This offer has not been taken up to date.
Instead Samoa was approached by the Australian Government officials where it became necessary to make the decision clear to them. This decision emphasised that VAI would be approved to operate scheduled services from points in Australia to Apia and return but with the Auckland to Apia and return services not approved. The necessary approvals were issued to VAI over the past few days.
The hope is that this direct link between Australia and Samoa will be reciprocated when the Samoa Airways application is considered. Samoa Airways is working hard to comply with terms of that application to fly direct from Apia to Australia.