From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 2, August 2002.

The restructuring of the Royal Tongan Airlines marked, “the beginning of the reform in government statutory boards,” Tonga’s Prime Minister Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata promised, at a Press Conference he called on July 9, to explain his initiative to restructure the ailing national airline.

The Chief Executive Officer, Semisi Taumoepeau, and the Board of Directors of Royal Tongan were given five days to hand in their letters of resignation and to leave the airline by June 30.

The Prime Minister said that if he saw any government statutory boards or government departments that had been given a chance to change themselves, but were not changing fast enough, or not producing good results for the tax payers, then, “I will act on tax-payers behalf and help them to see the light.”

Since he became Prime Minister and Minister of Civil Aviation in 1999 there have been great changes in the areas of Civil Aviation and the national airline operation.

The Royal Tongan Airline’s fleet of a Twin Otter and a Shorts aircraft, which operated the domestic service, were brought to a standstill by Tongan Civil Aviation authorities last year because of the airline’s failure to comply with international safety regulations. About the same time the international service of RTA was shattered when RTA had to return the Boeing 767, that it leased from Air New Zealand, because it could not keep up the lease payments.

While RTA was encountering these difficulties the Minister of Civil Aviation was forging ahead with milestone endeavours. Tonga adopted an Open Sky Policy and last year signed an Air Service Agreement with both Samoa and New Zealand, opening up the way for unlimited access between Tonga and Samoa, and Tonga and New Zealand, for airlines of these countries. The Minister of Civil Aviation was also negotiating with a number of other countries, including Brunei, Singapore, the USA, and the United Arab Emirates to sign new Air Service Agreements.

After Tonga reclaimed its sovereignty over its international airspace on 26 November 2001, and Civil Aviation was making changes, the Prime Minister was obviously not happy with the running of the national airline, which has government as its sole shareholder. RTA was buying seats in the three airlines that connect Tonga internationally—Air New Zealand, Air Pacific and Polynesian Airlines. But the service was leaving a lot of people stranded at the airport during the busy months of June-July, and fresh fish for export were unloaded numerous times because of lack of cargo space available on the aircraft.

The Prime Minister in tackling the problem head-on, dismissed the board of directors, including his older brother Hon. Ma‘atu, and then appointed a new, but reduced, board of directors, including two former directors, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Siosiua ‘Utoikamanu and the General Manager of the Tonga Development Bank, Afu‘alo Matoto. Then he recalled a former CEO of RTA, Logan Appu from Auckland, to be the new CEO.

The Prime Minister said that Logan had been fired by Royal Tongan when he first took up the position back in 2000, because there had been some accusations of incompetence, “but, in fact, he was immediately picked up by Air New Zealand as vice president for quality insurance.”

The Prime Minister said that Air New Zealand had released Logan who was expected to take up his new position with RTA in the third week of July. No working contract has been signed with the new CEO but there was an understanding, and he had been instrumental in getting the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Royal Brunei Airlines.

Royal Brunei

Prince ‘Ulukalala said that Royal Brunei Airlines was flying to Brisbane, Australia, and if an RTA Boeing 757 could link up with them, it would make possible, “a daily service to Europe, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Japan, which is good news to our fish exporters and also for our agricultural niche market exporters. By the same token we can also import from those markets, goods and services to Tonga, cheaper than we can from some of our neighbours, who may be physically close but price-wise a lot more expensive.”

The Prime Minister said that new Board of Directors was looking at reforming RTA, “and by the end of the year we would like to make sure that everybody in the airline, or who has anything to do with the airline is trained, educated and competent to do the job that they are doing at the moment.”

He said that the RTA negotiation to lease a Boeing 757 from RBA offered a number of training opportunities for pilots, engineers, management staff and the cabin crew. He said that the aircraft was currently under maintenance and should be available for service in early September. The Boeing 757 could carry 20 first class passengers and 120 economy class passengers.

Conflict of interest?

On the question of a conflict of interest since the Minister of Civil Aviation is also the Chairman of the Royal Tongan’s Board of Directors, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata said that there was always a relationship between safety and an airline. “In the past the Ministry of Civil Aviation tended to do what RTA wanted, but under my reform we are looking at delegating responsibility for safety to the Secretary of Civil Aviation, and you may know that we have just appointed a Director of Safety, Viliami Ma‘ake. It is a new post, and this will be one of his primary functions, and I don’t think there will be a conflict of interest between me as the Minister of Civil Aviation and myself as the Chairman of the RTA board.”

Royal Tongan Airlines in the past had tried to acquire an aircraft for its international service from Air Pacific and from Air New Zealand without any great success but why it should be more successful this time with RBA?

“It is a little bit easier to work with Brunei. When I visited there I met the Sultan. They are wishing to expand themselves to become the hub in Asia, so we are helping them by exporting through them.”

The Prime Minister added that an air freight company was also interested in establishing in Tonga, offering a cargo service only, which was good news for fish exporters.