Niuas air services to resume soon [1]
Friday, January 28, 2005 - 18:02. Updated on Saturday, May 3, 2014 - 16:36.
Domestic air services to the northern remote islands of Niuafo'ou and Niuatoputapu are expected to resume by the second week of February. There have been no regular air services to the Niuas since 17 May 2004, when the Royal Tongan Airlines ceased operation.
Wayne McMillan, a quality assessment expert with the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority CAA, flew on the Peau Vava'u Airways, DC3 the two Niuas yesterday and carried out final assessment of the ability of the aircraft to land and to take off safely from the two runways.
The two runways, the Mata'aho Airport, Niuatoputapu, and the Lavinia Airport, Niuafo'ou have been extended to meet the New Zealand Civil Aviation Safety Requirements.
Wayne said he was returning to New Zealand before the weekend and he would present his finding to the New Zealand CAA, which could make a decision by the second week of February.
Kaitu'u Fotu, the Acting Secretary for the Tonga Ministry of Civil Aviation said that Wayne's visit was the final part of the process to enable DC3 of the Peau Vava'u to land in the Niuas. Kaitu'u said that the Tongan Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued the Peau Vava'u with an Air Operator's Certificate to land in 'Eua, Ha'apai and Vava'u, excluding the Niuas, but Mata'aho and Lavinia airports will be included once a favourable recommendation is made by the New Zealand CAA based on Wayne's report.
Also visiting the two Niuas yesterday was the Prince Regent, Crown Prince Tupouto'a and the Governor of Vava'u, Hon. 'Akau'ola. The people in both islands were very excited when they were told that there was a possibility for the air service to be restored soon.
The government ferry, 'Olovaha visits the islands every two months.
The isolated islands have also experienced disruption to their telephone services, and during our visit yesterday, the people of Niuafo'ou said they had been without outside telephone communication for two weeks.
The government representative at Niuafo'ou, Semisi Halaholo said that living in Niuafo'ou was like being a person who had fallen into a hole with no communication with the outside world, excepting that now and again they could hear talking at the top.
"Our only communication with the outside was through Radio Tonga. I found out that my mother passed away on Tuesday because of a funeral message on the radio, and I am so lucky for this visiting flight so that I can go to Tongatapu for my mother's funeral."
Another lucky person was a five-year-old from Niuatoputapu with a nasty abscess on his neck that required an urgent operation, and he was taken aboard the Peau Vava'u with his parents for the return flight to Nuku'alofa. Medical staff said that without the air service it was difficult for seriously ill patients who needed to be sent to Vaiola Hospital in Nuku'alofa. When a boy was injured after falling from a tree they had resorted to putting him on a passing yacht so that he could go for xrays at Vaiola.