From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 3, November 2002.

Royal Tongan Airlines will resume its international air service on November 25. The new Chief Executive Officer, Logan Appu, said that they would introduce a daily service between Tonga and Auckland, and a weekly service between Auckland, Sydney, Tonga, and Auckland.

Using a 15-year-old Boeing 757-200ER aircraft, leased from Royal Brunei Airlines, Logan said Royal Tongan could compete with the likes of Air New Zealand, Polynesian Airlines and Air Pacific. “We are bringing in a competitive aircraft to the market. It is an ideal aircraft… it is between a narrow and a wide body.”

Logan believed that their service would attract the travelling public, “because our daily service will be operating during sociable hours…the service is different from other airlines, and our business class is actually first class.”

Third attempt

The new service is the airline’s third attempt at running its own international air service. Royal Tongan first went international in 1995 with a Boeing 737-300 that it leased from Air Pacific, then in 1999 with a Boeing 737-200 that it leased from Air New Zealand. The lease arrangement with Air New Zealand was terminated because the Board and the CEO at the time thought it was uneconomical to keep it running.

Logan was the CEO who initiated the lease two years ago, but he was dismissed by the Board of Directors of Royal Tongan before the leasing agreement with Air New Zealand was terminated. Logan said that the Board made a wrong decision. “It is a shame that the previous Board discontinued what I had in place with the service of the 737. Now Royal Tongan Airlines has to start all over again, and it is not an easy task to set up an international operation.”

He said RTA would take the best option, and start with a Royal Brunei crew, and eventually Royal Tongan Airlines would take over the operation. To get the service in operation they were looking at a start-up capital of about $3- $4 million. “In my opinion, it is a better and a [more] viable option than to try and get a new aircraft. It is a minimum risk to the nation and the government.”

Logan said that following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Tongan Airlines and the Royal Brunei Airlines on July 3, negotiation on a lease agreement continued and the two parties had committed to a Wet Lease, which was tied together by the ACMI, (Aircraft Crew Maintenance and Insurance). “Wet lease means that the aircraft will operate under Royal Brunei Airlines AOC, who will provide the crew, responsible for the maintenance, and the insurance of the aircraft. When we start providing the Cabin Crew we will move to a Damp Lease. Initially, for two to three months, there will be a mix of RBA and RTA cabin crew with all of them in RBA colours.” Logan said that during October, 23 RTA crew and flight attendants were training in Brunei.

He said that they were planning a long-term lease for three to five years, “but within 12 to 18 months we will work on a transition phase…when RTA will be responsible for the whole operation.”

New management

When Logan took over as the new CEO of Royal Tongan Airlines at the end of June this year, he was directed by the new Board of Directors to reform the airline, and he said that since then he had prepared a reform plan.

Logan said that because there was no one with international airlines experience in his existing staff, he would focus more on getting the international service to run smoothly and profitably. He would also like to bring in two highly qualified personnel, a senior manager to look after the domestic service, because, “I don’t want the domestic service to be overlooked while I am concentrating on the International service. Also the airline badly needs a

Chief Finance Officer. I am looking for someone who could be my right hand man. I need someone to come up with the figures…then I can draw on my experience in the airline industry to make decisions.”

Cargo

Logan said that by December 16, Royal Tongan Airlines would extend its service and fly once a week to Honolulu, “I think this will not be enough, and will be increased soon. One of the reasons for this service is to deal with the freight problem, so we have allocated three to four tonnes of cargo on a daily basis. On the agenda is a code sharing arrangement with an aircraft from Honolulu to the West Coast of the USA.”