Royal Tongan Airlines flies under its own flag [1]
Saturday, August 30, 2003 - 10:00. Updated on Friday, February 19, 2016 - 14:02.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 2, August 2003.
Royal Tongan Airlines wants to make Tonga the hub of a regional service that will connect the South Pacific kingdom with Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii.
Royal Tongan Airlines in June began flying under its own flag, seven months after launching its international 757 service in conjunction with Royal Brunei Airlines.
On June 12, the CEO of Royal Tongan Airlines, Logan Appu was presented with an Air Operative Certificate by the Director of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, allowing the Tongan operation of the Boeing 757 that the airline is leasing from the Royal Brunei Airlines. This means also that the leasing agreement between the two airlines was elevated from a Wet Lease to a Dry Lease.
Logan explained, “The 757 will now fly under our own flag. Our pilots will return from Brunei and very soon we will have Tongan pilots operating the 757, our own cabin crew are all qualified, and our operating costs will be reduced by about two thirds.”
Logan said that in the beginning when the 757 was still on a Wet Lease Royal Tongan Airlines was not only paying for the aircraft, but also for the pilots, air attendants and other expenses, including the air operative certificate of Royal Brunei.
Honolulu
Logan said that there were three phases to his long-term work plan for Royal Tongan Airlines international air service. “First was to get the 757 under our own AOC and to move to a dry lease, and we have got that now.
“The second phase is to be able to fly to the USA, to Hawaii, and I am optimistic that we can do that soon.
Once Royal Tongan Airlines landed in the USA, Logan said, “I will then look at a regional service with Tonga as the hub. We will then have to look at acquiring medium size aircraft to service the region and to feed into our 757, which will fly to the metropolitan centres of Sydney, Auckland and Honolulu”
Lower fares
Meanwhile, the cash-strapped airline is struggling to break even in its daily operations, which include a national inter-island service and a cut-price service to Auckland and Sydney.
Royal Tongan Airlines will take at least two years before its starts to make money, said Logan
“Because we have to increase our load factor. We are now creeping up from 35-37% to 40-45% loading and it won’t be long before we will be operating around 50%. When we reach a loading of 60% we will break even.
“By this time next year we should be able to see how our loading is picking up, and if it will continue to increase as it is doing now, nothing will stop us, we will be running to the bank laughing,” he said.
Survival
But how can a small under-funded airline like Royal Tongan Airlines will manage to survive in the hostile environment of air transport where huge and well established airlines have gone bust?
Logan remained optimistic. “We are fortunate because we are a small operator. We are not here to knock Air New Zealand, Polynesian Airlines or Air Pacific or to try to take over. Tonga in its own right wants to operate its own flights because we want to take control of our own destiny. Airlines go bust because they are competing in an existing market, we aren’t, we are building a market, and there is a huge potential for the development of tourism in this country. The aim of this game is for Tonga to be self-sufficient, in providing viable air transport for the country, and if we do that I believe the economy will grow.
“Our intention is to provide air transport at a reasonable cost. Royal Tongan Airlines is the leader in the fare structure, and what ever we do everyone follow suit,” he said.