Solomon Airlines
| Solomon Airlines | |
|---|---|
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|
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| IATA code : | IE |
| ICAO code : | SOL |
| Call sign : | SOLOMON |
| Founding: | 1962 (as Megapode Airlines) |
| Seat: |
Honiara , Solomon Islands
|
| Turnstile : | |
| Home airport : | Honiara airport |
| Company form: | State company |
| IATA prefix code : | 193 |
| Management: | Ron Sumsum ( CEO ) |
| Fleet size: | 6th |
| Aims: | National and international |
| Website: | www.flysolomons.com |
Solomon Airlines , also known as Solomons , is the national airline of the Solomon Islands , based in Honiara and based at Honiara Airport .
history
Solomon Airlines was founded in 1962 by Laurie Crowley as the charter airline Megapode Airlines , as there was no commercial airline in the Solomon Islands at the time. He started charter flights with a Piper Aztec from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands.
In 1968, Megapode Airlines was bought by Macair of Papua New Guinea and renamed Solmon Islands Airways . The company was mostly known by the acronym SOLAIR . After being purchased by Macair, SOLAIR began scheduled passenger flights and became the world's smallest international airline with flights to the islands of Bougainville , Papua New Guinea. The fleet consisted of two de Havilland DH.104 Dove and two Beechcraft Barons .
In 1975, Macair and SOLAIR were bought by Talair and the fleet received nine Beechcraft Model 80 Queen Air . In 1976 the government of the Solomon Islands acquired 49% of the company shares with the right of first refusal of the remaining 51% shares within five years.
The company grew slowly but steadily over the next five years. With a new Fairchild Swearingen Metro , the network was expanded to include the connection to Vanuatu . In 1984 the government took over the remaining shares in the company and leased two de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otters and an Embraer EMB 110 from Talair, but returned them shortly after the takeover.
The takeover was received with great skepticism by the employees and many left the company, including some executives. This forced the government to realign the company and invested $ 2 million first in the purchase of two de Havilland DHC-6-300s. The company was officially named Solomon Airlines .
A joint venture with Qantas Airways followed, and the jet age began at Solomon Airlines with a Boeing 737 leased from Air Pacific . A joint venture also followed with Air Pacific. In 1989 Air Pacific decided to replace the Boeing 737 with a Boeing 767 to serve international routes. This forced Solomon Airlines to lease a new machine from ILFC .
In 1999 civil war broke out in the Solomon Islands. Solomon Airlines had to give up its international routes due to UN sanctions . The company was only allowed to operate one route and decided on the connection to Brisbane .
Today the company has survived the aftermath of the civil war and serves flight destinations within closer range of the Pacific Ocean , as well as the route to Brisbane.
Destinations
Solomon Airlines serves international destinations in Oceania and Sydney in Australia from Honiara . The Solomon Islands are served regionally . To promote tourism, Solomon Airlines set up a direct weekly flight between Brisbane and Munda in 2019 .
There are also codeshare agreements with Air Kiribati and Fiji Airways .
fleet
As of February 2018, the Solomon Airlines fleet consists of six aircraft:
| Aircraft type | number | ordered | Remarks | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 1 | 136 | ||
| de Havilland DHC-6-300 | 4th | one of them stored | 18th | |
| de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 | 1 | 36 | ||
| total | 6th | - |
See also
Web links
- Web presence of Solomon Airlines (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ flysolomons.com - Where We Fly ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (in English), accessed December 22, 2016
- ↑ Samisoni Pareti: Solomons , issue 80, p. 10. Honiara 2019.
- ^ Ch-Aviation, Solomon Airlines' fleet , accessed on February 4, 2018
- ↑ flysolomons.com - Fleet Information , accessed on August 7, 2014
