Air Kiribati

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Air Kiribati is the national airline of Kiribati operating local passenger services within the Kiribati Islands (formerly known as the Gilbert Islands). It also operates charters, medical evacuation and search and rescue services. Its main base is Bonriki International Airport (TRW), Tarawa Atoll.

1 Code Data
2 History
3 Services
4 Fleet
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Code Data

IATA Code: 4A

[edit] History

The airline was established and started operations on April 1, 1995, after the collapse of the previous national airline Air Tungaru, which had been formed on 31 October 1977. In March 2004 Air Kiribati ended its international operations. It is owned 100% by the Government of Kiribati.

[edit] Services

Air Kiribati operates only domestic flights since 2003 (and most of the Gilbert Islands are linked except Banaba Island). The Line Islands and Phoenix Islands are too far for direct flights. Until 2004, Aloha Airlines connected Honolulu to Kiritimati on behalf of Air Kiribati, but because of Aloha difficulties, there have been no more flights since April 2004. Since October 4, 2005, a new service is operated by Fijian Air Pacific, every Tuesday, from Honolulu, with 24 places chartered on each flight by Air Kiribati.

Flight diversions can also be arranged when required. Medevac and SAR are always considered priority.

[edit] Fleet

The Air Kiribati fleet consists of 1 Britten-Norman BN2A Islander aircraft and 1 Casa C212-200 (at January 2005). For one year, it also consisted of 1 ATR-72-500. Its huge costs eventually led to a change in the President of Kiribati.^[1] Air Kiribati has also used a Harbin Y-12.

[edit] References

^ Why Kiribati's Switching Alliance (html). In just six months of flying, the lease chewed up A$8 million worth of public money, prompting Tong in his first few days of taking up office last September to issue an ultimatum to the carrier: break even or close down. Retrieved on January 26, 2007.