Tonga's Baghdad-bound troops use commercial flight [1]
Saturday, August 18, 2007 - 17:05. Updated on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 - 12:08.
Despite hitting severe turbulence from its government owners over helping fly Australian soldiers to Iraq, Air New Zealand will help transport another troop of Baghdad-bound soldiers on August 18, Stuff NZ reports.
The airline will fly 55 Tongan soldiers on a commercial flight to the United States, on their way to a six-month deployment in Baghdad.
Tongan Defence Force Lieutenant Commander Solomon Savelio confirmed the soldiers were booked to leave tomorrow on an Air Pacific flight to Fiji.
From there they were booked to fly United Airlines to Los Angeles on a commercial flight - operated by Air New Zealand.
A spokesman for New Zealand foreign affairs Minister Winston Peters, who was angered by news that Air New Zealand charter flights had been used to carry Australian troops to Iraq, indicated that the Tongan troop flight was different - it was a commercial flight.
Air New Zealand confirmed that United Airlines is a code-share partner on its flight from Auckland to Los Angeles.
Communications manager Tracey Palmer said the airline had "no visibility" as to the professions of the passengers on such flights.
The Tongan soldiers will provide security at Camp Victory, a base near Baghdad airport where the Multinational Force headquarters is based.
The base accommodates more than 10,000 troops and civilians. (Pacnews).