Early flak for Samoa Airways
Samoa Airways is copping flak in its first week of its operation but says “Rome wasn't built overnight”.
Samoa Airways’ general manager Seiuli Alvin Tuala said he was working on solving problems that sparked criticism following the airline’s first day of operations on Tuesday.
The one-plane airline has started flying between Apia and Auckland after the Samoan Government, which owns the airline, refused permission for Virgin Australia to fly the route.
There were manual check-ins and boarding passes were hand printed.
“It’s a teething problem and it’s being dealt with. We should alleviate the setback as soon as possible and remove any inconvenience to our passengers and travelling public,” said Seiuli. “Rome was not built overnight.”
Seiuli said the airline was formed in six months and he had expected “a lot of problems and setbacks”.
But he said Samoa had an airline it should be proud of.
“We are back in the air and all we are asking for is for a little time,” he said.
Seiuli urged the “patience and understanding of our patriots”.
He said the manual ticketing setback should be resolved within the next week or so.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Dr Sailele Malielegaoi said many had asked why the Government was again involved in an airline.
“Samoa can no longer rely on others to determine our destiny in terms of air travel, we can no longer sit back and let others dictate to us what’s best for our people and this country,” he said. “Having our own airline ensures that we will be able to determine our destiny.”
Thai Airways International joins the Dreamliner club in Auckland today, with its new Boeing 787-9 flying in from Bangkok. The airline is also stepping up to daily flights from five times a week, adding about 65,000 seats to the route. Thai’s aircraft has 298 seats — 30 in business class in a 1-2-1 configuration and 268 in economy, arranged 3-3-3. The new aircraft replaces a 777-200ER on the route. Scott Tasker, Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial, has said the announcement was great news for New Zealand and would inject $53 million annually into the economy. “Thailand is a popular holiday destination for Kiwis with more than 46,000 New Zealanders travelling there during the past year, with the majority of travellers being holidaymakers.” The additional flights would also provide further travel options for visitors from Britain, Europe, India and southeast Asia who travel through Thai Airways’ hub in Bangkok. “Thai Airways last increased their frequency in flights in March 2016 and that resulted in an additional 30,000 seats on the route at the time. It’s impressive to see a route grow so quickly and an additional 65,000 seats now being added,” said Tasker. Thai — 51 per cent owned by the Thai government — has had six 787-8s in its fleet since 2014 but the later model is longer by 6m, allowing for more passengers and cargo. Dreamliners entered commercial service in 2011 and airlines using them through Auckland Airport include Air New Zealand, LATAM and American Airlines. The aircraft are about 20 per cent more fuel efficient than the planes they replace. The airline released results this week which showed it swung to an operating profit of 739 million baht ($32.33 million) for the third quarter ended September 30, from a 836 million baht loss a year ago. Revenue rose 6.3 per cent to 46.9 billion baht as it boosted capacity and filled a higher percentage of seats, but reported a 7.5 per cent decline in average fares. Due to impairments on older aircraft and foreign currency exchange losses, Thai Airways reported a net loss of 1.8b baht for the quarter, wider than the 1.6b baht net loss a year ago. The airline said competition was likely to intensify as new routes were opened and the industry faced shortages of trained pilots, flight attendants, engineers and technicians. The Auckland route is part of an expansion which includes more flights from Bangkok to Brussels, Oslo and Auckland, and also expanding southeast Asian routes flown by its budget carrier, Thai Smile.