The Civil Aviation Authority of Solomon Islands (CAASI) expects flights to resume soon after the unexpected decision by the current Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Airlines to suspend all airline operations as of 10 am this morning.
“As the regulator I have [had] consultations with the Prime Minister, the relevant Ministers, the Solomon Airline Board Chairman and the CEO of Solomon Airlines this morning and we all agreed that the suspension must be lifted and flights [are expected] to resume soon,” the Director of CAASI, Mr George Satu said.
“The matters raised by the CEO of Solomon Airlines have been attended to by the Solomon Airlines Board and the Solomon Islands Government. The only minor administrative matter that the CEO of Solomon Airlines needs to do now is brief his Safety Committee on the commitment by the SIG to address any outstanding issues between Solomon Airlines and the SIG. That briefing should have already happened.
“There is actually no safety issues here as far as our aircrafts are concerned. The only minor issue here is that our pilots have been flying extra hours than normal to fill-in for our Dash 8 routes. We expect the Dash 8 to be back soon and normal flight schedules to resume for the domestic routes,” Mr. Satu further explained.
Meanwhile the Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, Andrew Donua Muaki, said that the Prime Minister expected all the relevant stakeholders to ensure such unexpected events do not happen in the future.
“The Prime Minister, like everyone else, expects the Solomon Airlines Management and its Board to proactively address any issues that our national carrier faces,” Mr Muaki said.