Page 32 - IB MAR 2019

Business Intelligence - PACIFIC

flights via its new MAX 9.

Fiji, PNG also affected
Samoa will be the second airline in this
part of the world to be flying a Boeing 737
MAX, after Fiji began services on its first
MAX 8 last December.
Fiji Airways and the Civil Aviation Au-
thority of Fiji announced the temporarily
grounding of its fleet of Boeing 737 MAX
aircraft on March 13, until more infor-
mation is known about the cause of the
Ethiopian Airlines accident.
Initially Fiji Airways said it would not
be grounding its planes, and it continues
to state that it has: “full confidence in the
airworthiness of the Boeing 737 MAX
aircraft, and in the skilled and experienced
Fiji Airways pilots and engineers who
operate them.
“Since Fiji Airways commenced oper-
ating the Boeing 737 MAX in December
2018, the aircraft has proven to be reliable
and efficient, and continuous flight data
monitoring has not identified any issues
that would give rise to a cause for concern.
Happy times .... When Fiji Airways took delivery of its first B737 MAX 8. Photo: Supplied
“However, out of deference to the posi-
tion taken by regulators in our region, and
Samoa Airways shelves maiden flight in response to the concerns expressed by
the general public, both Fiji Airways and
And Fiji grounds its planes the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji have
agreed that the most appropriate course
is to impose this temporary grounding. “
By Dionisia Tabureguci On October 29 last year, Indonesian Fiji Airways says flight times may be
airline Lion Air flight JT610 destined for affected by the grounding.
THE worldwide grounding of Boeing’s Pangkal Pinang in Indonesia crashed 13 Meanwhile Air Niugini is due to take
737 MAX 8 aircrafts has prompted the minutes after taking off from Jakarta’s delivery of two 737 Max 8 aircraft in the
Government of Samoa to defer the com- Soekarno-Hatta Airport, killing 184 pas- third quarter of 2020 and another two in
missioning of its new Boeing 737 MAX 9, sengers and five crewmembers on board. 2021.Air Niugini says that order remains
which was to have taken place next month Both accidents involved a Boeing 737 intact.
(April 2019). MAX 8. As this edition went to press, the U.S.
Recent air disasters involving the Boe- “Because ours is a MAX 9, we know Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
ing 737 MAX 8 have forced the hands of there are equipment similarities, so in the issued a statement pointing to potential
airlines around the world to ground their meantime, we have to take all precau- similarities between the Indonesian and
aircraft, and prompted Australia, New tions…hence the delay. Unless we get Ethiopian flights.
Zealand, the United States of America and clearance, nothing will happen,” Minister “On March 13, 2019, the investiga-
China to slap a ban on the 737 MAX series Purcell added. tion of the ET302 crash developed new
in their airspaces. National airline Samoa Airways was set information from the wreckage concern-
“The crash of two brand new 737 to become Oceania’s first operator of the ing the aircraft’s configuration just after
MAX 8 within the span of five months Boeing 737 Max 9, which it had leased via takeoff that, together with newly refined
has shaken the world of aviation and a Memorandum of Understanding with data from satellite-based tracking of
unless we have received clearance from Air Lease Corporation, which specialises the aircraft’s flight path, indicates some
the Federal Aviation Administration, the in buying airplanes and leasing them out similarities between ET302 and JT610
New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority and to airlines around the world. accidents that warrant further investiga-
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety, we will In its announcement in January, Samoa tion of the possibility of a shared cause for
not bring that aircraft to Samoa,” Minister Airways said the new plane would be part the two incidents that needs to be better
of Public Enterprises Lautafi Selafi Purcell of its aircraft upgrade program, to replace understood and addressed. Accordingly,
told the Samoa Observer. its existing 737-800 and is scheduled for the Acting Administrator is ordering all
Last month, an Ethiopian Airlines flight delivery this month, direct from Boeing in Boeing MAX airplanes to be grounded
ET302 bound for Nairobi, Kenya, crashed Seattle Washington. pending further investigation. This Order
six minutes after takeoff from Bole Inter- Prior to the ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines is effective immediately”
national Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, flight ET302, Samoa Airways was to have It said that while the order is in place, it
killing all 148 passengers and eight crew launched a Apia-Auckland daily flight and will “initiate a proceeding, as appropriate,
members on board. weekly Apia-Brisbane and Apia-Sydney to address the factors that contributes to

32 Islands Business, March 2019