Locally-owned airline, Talofa Airways will continue to operate out of Faleolo International Airport while waiting for phase two of the maintenance of  Fagali'i Airport to be completed. 

This was confirmed by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Toleafoa Captain Jeffrey Hunter in response to queries from this newspaper this week. 

According to Toleafoa, they hope to operate out of Fagali'i airport, however, he noted that the maintenance work needed for the aircrafts if they use the Fagali'i airport would be too costly for the company. 

"Therefore, we will continue to operate out of Faleolo for now," Toleafoa said. 

"We want to operate out of Fagali'i as we did when we first started for almost four years. But the maintenance work is very expensive.

"However, we are happy that the second phase of the renovations done to Fagalii Airport proposes the extension of the runway and we hope that we would be able to operate out of Fagali'i after phase two is completed."

Toleafoa reiterated that Talofa Airways does not have a problem operating out of Fagali'i. 

"Our aircrafts can fly out of Fagali'i. As I said, it's not an issue for us. But it's just the maintenance cost. 

"The other thing is, if we operate out of Fagali'i, we would still need to fly back to Faleolo where the hangar is to service our aircrafts and for maintenance work. 

"So that's an added cost for us. So we thought it's better to operate out of Faleolo. 

"However, we will wait for phase two to be completed and we hope that it will be sooner than later."

Toleaofa said they need to have a fair competition with the Government-owned airline, Samoa Airways. 

The Minister for Aviation, Olo Fiti Va'ai in June of this year explained that the Fagali'i Airport runway and apron have been fully overlaid with a 10mm chip seal. 

Responding to concerns raised by the Opposition Leader following the re-opening of Fagali'i Airport, Olo explained that the dimensions of the runway is 700m x 18m with apron space able to accommodate up to 4 aircrafts. 

"The runway has been swept of loose chips," Olo clarified.

"An extension of approximately 80 meters is being planned. The runway strip is 713m x 50m and is clear of debris with the shoulders graded.

"International Aviation records has Fagalii Airport coded as a 1B aerodrome. In layman terms, the airport’s physical characteristics include a runway of less than 800 meters, and aircrafts permitted to operate at aerodrome are De-Havilland Twin Otters only.

“The Fagalii Airport was designed specifically to cater to Twin Otters, as well as our other airports, Maota and Asau Savaii.

“Twin Otters can operate comfortably out of a 400-meter runway. Meanwhile all our airports are almost double that length.”

The dimensions of Maota and Asau runways are 700m x 15m and 640m x 15m respectively.

“What Talofa Airways should have done is proper research to seek aircrafts that suitably fit the specifications of already existing airports in Samoa,” the Minister of Works added.

“However, that is not the case with Talofa Airways whose aircraft requires more than 1000 meters of runway, hence they are not suited for Fagalii Airport. But Fagalii Airport is safe.

“They are welcome to continue operating from the Faleolo International Airport.”