OUR AIRLINE

'Our Airline' (formerly known as 'Air Nauru') is the national airline of the Republic of Nauru. It operates scheduled international services to other Pacific islands and Australia. Its main base is Nauru International Airport.^[1]

Contents

History

Destinations

Fleet

External links

References

History

Our Airline was established in 1970 as Air Nauru and started operations on 14 February 1970 with an experimental service between Nauru and Brisbane, later added regular scheduled services. It was corporatised in 1996 as the Nauru Air Corporation (NAC), enabling it to operate independently in a commercial marketplace, free from most of its government constraints.
In 1998 it came under the regulatory control of the Civil Aviation Authority of Australia and is a select foreign carrier holding an Australian Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). The airline was rebranded as Our Airline and relaunched on 14 October 2006. On September 4, 2006, the company's name has been rebranded to "Our Airline".^[2]
Our Airline is wholly owned by the state and has 144 employees (at March 2007). However, the island's regular economic troubles have caused the airline to lose large amounts of money, and on some occasions become insolvent. Its operations were suspended for brief periods in the late 1990s because of concerns raised by Australia over the airworthiness and safety record of its aircraft. Airline offices and equipment were also frequently repossessed by the Australian government for Nauru's repeated defaults on foreign loans. Its services are kept on a very loose schedule, as the aircraft is often used for the transportation of government officials. Senior cabinet members and diplomats travel frequently to and from the country to visit international summits and other meetings.
The airline has been in dispute with the Export-Import Bank of the United States since 2002, and in December 2005 the High Court of Australia upheld an earlier decision to allow the bank to seize Air Nauru's only aircraft, registered VH-RON, leaving Nauru and the island nation Kiribati without air services ^[3]. Air Nauru had only one aircraft, a Boeing 737-400 (as at July 2005) which went into service in 1998. The aircraft was seized by creditors in Melbourne Airport, Australia, on December 18, 2005.

Destinations

Services are provided from Nauru to the following international scheduled destinations: Brisbane, Honiara, Majuro, and Tarawa. Our Airline currently operate a twice weekly service from Brisbane through Honiara to Nauru and Tarawa Atoll and return.
Our Airline will begin services between Nauru and Fiji in the very near future.^[4] On 8 June 2007 it was announced that Our Airline would cease operating services to Tarawa and Majuro effective July 2007.
Air Nauru also provided services on behalf of Norfolk Jet Express from Norfolk Island to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. However, Norfolk Jet Express went into voluntary liquidation on 4 June 2005. After urgent discussions, Norfolk Island Administration secretary, Peter Maywald, announced on 7 June that Qantas and Air Nauru would jointly provide replacement services for at least 12 months. For the first week after liquidation, Alliance Airlines aircraft were used for services, following which it was planned that Qantas would operate the flights from 11 June using Air Nauru Boeing 737 aircraft chartered by the Norfolk Island Government. ^[5] Today Norfolk Island services are operated by Ozjet with a codeshare arrangement with Qantas.

Fleet

As of March 2007 the Our Airline fleet includes :

★ 1 Boeing 737-300 (registration: VH-INU)
In March 2006, the government of Taiwan assisted Air Nauru with the purchase of a brand new Boeing 737, which was expected to be in operation by mid-2006, after several logistical delays. This purchase was put on hold in May 2006 due to OzJet and Air Pacific having started on the routes formerly operated by Air Nauru. ^[6] In September 2006 the new Boeing plane came into service.

External links

★ Our Airline

★ Our Airline Flight Schedule

★ Our Airline Fleet Detail

★ Photo of the new Our Airline plane design

References

1. Directory: World Airlines
2. OUR AIRLINE Set For Takeoff - Air Nauru Successor To Commence Service
3. Court ruling grounds Air Nauru
4. Air Nauru to serve Fiji route
5. Air International, July 2005
6. Nauru shelves plans to buy a new plane after losing key air routes