Fagali’i Airport: don’t compromise safety

By The Editorial Board 04 June 2023, 9:50AM

Last Monday the Government reopened the SAT$2.6 million Fagali’i Airport, primarily for light aircraft flights from American Samoa, and four years after the former Administration decided to close it.

Government leaders, representatives of the business community, the diplomatic corps and Fagali’i villagers attended the official reopening last Monday with Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa in attendance.

But close to a week after its commissioning, the skies in and around Fagali’i are quiet and there is no activity at the airport. There hasn’t been a single commercial flight into and out of the aerodrome since its reopening, according to an article (No flights at $2.6M Fagali’i Airport) in yesterday’s edition of the Weekend Observer.

But how can there be no flights into and out of the multimillion-tala upgraded airport? The Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure assured guests last Monday that the airport had already met the necessary international safety requirements. Olo Fiti Vaai also confirmed last year that an assessment had already been done by a team of civil engineers from New Zealand, on the location and the condition of the airport, and gave local officials [from the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure] the green light. 

In yesterday’s edition of the Weekend Observer, the Samoa Airport Authority (S.A.A.) Chief Executive Officer, Silimana'i Ueta Jnr. Solomona told this newspaper that the airport had passed the safety test after the Vanuatu-based regional aviation safety office, Pacific Aviation Safety Office did an inspection of the airport.

So why haven’t commercial flights resumed at Fagali’i if the P.A.S.O. had already signed off on the safety audit as S.A.A. C.E.O. is saying?

There are a lot of loose ends in this story that the local authorities need to verify and address. We say this because the owner of Talofa Airways, Toleafoa Jeffrey Hunt has already gone on public record to comment on the state of the recently opened aerodrome. Speaking on Radio Polynesia, he raised concerns about the condition of the Fagali’i airport’s runway and claimed that it would be costly for his airline if they were to use the airport located in the Samoan capital.

So what exactly were Toleafoa’s concerns about the recently re-launched airport? Take a look at his interview.

“The cost is likely high for the company on the wear and tear of the aircraft,” Toleafoa Jeffrey Hunt, the owner of Talofa Airways said. “I thought that they are going to redo it, then do it properly, but still the same.

“But it’s doable, we can operate here, but in terms of maintenance, it’s costly."

Looking at the above quotes by the Talofa Airways owner, we can only surmise that Fagali’i Airport is not ready to re-open and last Monday’s official launching was premature. So couldn’t Minister Olo wait for all the necessary work on the tarmac and the runway to be completed before going ahead with the opening?

We believe Minister Olo could have waited by pushing back the opening date until after all the necessary work was completed at the airport. It is understood his Ministry was given a tight deadline to ensure the work was completed before last Monday. So was there a need for a tight deadline in relation to the upgrading work at the airport? No, we believe the contractor should have been given more time. 

The Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure (MWTI) – which also oversees aviation including the S.A.A. – should get its act together to ensure travellers’ safety is not compromised. We all know what happens when infrastructure upgrading work is rushed – it can lead to the compromising of safety.

In cognisance of what is at stake, the Ministry should have put out a tender that proposed a joint venture with an international firm with expertise in building and or upgrading airports. That would have saved the embarrassment that the Government now faces but more importantly ensure that the safety of travellers using Fagali’i Airport is not put at risk.

With the Government already expending over $2 million on the upgrading work, it appears that there will be added costs, in order to ensure that the work undertaken is satisfactory for all operators including Samoa Airways and Talofa Airways. We can understand the refusal by local operators not to fly to Fagali'i – until the airport upgrade meets their own requirements – as their safety record and reputation can become the difference between making a profit or a loss in a tough operating environment. 

As one of the regulators of Samoa's aviation sector, we also expect the S.A.A. to publish publicly the safety audit certification it received from P.A.S.O. for the Fagali'i Airport, in order to put to rest travellers' doubts about the use of the aerodrome. 

By The Editorial Board 04 June 2023, 9:50AM
Samoa Observer

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