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

By ‘Inga Mangisi

A group of Pacific islands states want to take charge of their own air safety inspections in order to reduce down time for aircraft that must wait for overseas certification.

Tonga is lobbying Pacific Forum nations to support the creation of a regional office that will look after the “safety and security” of airlines.

At the Association of South Pacific Airlines meeting in Tonga in June, the idea was introduced for the creation of a Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO), to be registered as a non-profit organisation soon.

The founding members include Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu, who plan to set up an office in Vanuatu, which could begin technical inspections of aircraft as early as January next year.

The meeting held at the Royal Sunset Resort brought together 35 representatives from 10 airlines in the region, and service providers, to discuss a number of aviation issues.

Other States

The PASO concept will be formally pitched at an Aviation Minister’s meeting in March next year, according to Tonga’s Civil Aviation Secretary Mapa Faletau. This would act as a “selling venue” to states that may not have acceded to PASO yet, “like Tuvalu,” he said.

Mapa said the concept of PASO was initiated last year at a Forum Ministers’ meeting in Samoa, to allow the states of the Pacific to fully meet their civil aviation responsibilities. Tonga, in last year’s ICAO Assembly meeting in Canada, aggressively supported the concept.  

In December last year the founding nation task force was formed with a mission to implement PASO in 12 months and it submitted the PASO proposal to ICAO in May, and gained support to set-up.

“ICAO gave their blessing, saying this would assist states in fulfilling their obligations to the Chicago Convention,” said Mapa.

Pacific ownership

Essentially, PASO will create a conglomerate of Pacific Island nations with vested interests in improving the technical operations of the industry; and a regional body “actually owned by the group of member states…which is more responsive and suitable to their needs and priorities.”

Tonga currently has a technical assistance agreement with New Zealand that provides on a request ad hoc basis, technical assistance in the areas of certification, audits of the operator, and licensing.

But according to Mapa, “it’s an expensive exercise.

“It’s on a ‘when we’re available basis’, not ‘yes, we can have this achieved,” he explained. “In aviation, time is money. If aircraft stay on the ground due to certification not being completed or undertaken, that’s an enormous amount of cost!” The cost can vary from hundreds, to thousands of dollars, depending on the revenue generation of the aircraft in a 24-hour period.

The main reason for the establishment of PASO is “to meet the region’s… needs for a proper certification safety oversight unit. A regional technical civil aviation authority,” which will be technically manned by expatriates.

When a Forum country decided to join PASO it meant the integration of the national civil aviation authorities and PASO. Essentially, PASO would become an integral part of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, looking after flight standards, airworthiness, certifications, and licensing.

International standard

Meanwhile, Tonga’s Prime Minister, Prince ‘Ulukalala Lavaka Ata has said, “Tonga sees Regional co-operative programs as the architecture for development of the South West Pacific.”

Also part of the PASO package is a range of services at international standards in audits, navigational aid testing, and acceptance requirements for new aircraft types and carriers.

Once a state joins PASO, there will be a flat rate USD$10,000 annual support levy exclusive of user-pay charges.

Regional council

John Gratton of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia, who is involved in setting up PASO, estimated the annual operating cost at USD$555,000, depending on the level of external support received in the form of financial and technical assistance.  

He said that Vanuatu was the suitable host country in that it had comprehensive legislation already in place that was conducive to the development of the non-profit organisation, as well as holding the largest fleet of aircraft of the potential stakeholders.

Part of the plan was to create a regional council made up of representatives from every member country. This would provide policy and prioritisation and appoint staff members, including a managing director; a flying operations inspector; an air worthiness inspector; a security and airports inspector; an administrative assistant; and a technical assistant-librarian.

PASO still had a long way to go to meet their goals, said John.  However, they planned to commence inspections in January next year, when they would have also completed an independent review on their progress.

He anticipated fully self-sufficient operations in five years time.