Runway condition continues to affect flights

Fiji's domestic air carrier, Pacific Sun says flights to and from Labasa continue to be cancelled until further work on the runway is completed, and the runway meets all international safety and operations standards.
 
Pacific Sun continues to incur a significant financial impact due to the condition of the Labasa runway, which in its current state does not allow the airline to operate its ATR-42 services there.

Pacific Sun General Manager, Sahenaz Voss said as they have consistently stressed that they are just as just as disappointed as their customers in the delay to resume Labasa operations, safety of their customers, crew and the aircraft remains paramount to them.

“In addition to the disruption to the travel plans of our customers as a result, we are incurring significant costs by operating supplementary DHC-6 Twin Otter services into Savusavu," Voss said in a statement.

"It is a costly exercise, one which losing us a lot of money. However, as a responsible airline, we are doing this to ensure that our customers have another alternative for travel to Vanua Levu.”

Meanwhile, Pacific Sun is encouraged that Airports Fiji Limited will undertake further work on the Labasa runway and the airline understands work may commence next week.

By Reginald Chandar