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| Founded | 14 February 1970 | |||
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| Fleet size | 2 Boeing 737-300 | |||
| Destinations | Brisbane, Honiara and Tarawa. | |||
| Headquarters | Nauru International Airport Yaren District, Nauru |
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| Key people | Karam Chand (CEO) Jim Bradfield |
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| Website | http://www.ourairline.com.au | |||
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] Its head office is on the property of Nauru International Airport, Yaren District, and its operations office is in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.[2]
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Our Airline was established as Air Nauru and started operations on 14 February 1970 with an experimental service between Nauru and Brisbane, using a chartered Dassault Falcon 20 registered VH-BIZ.[3][4] Regular scheduled services commenced after the delivery in January 1972 of the airline's first Fokker F28 Fellowship, registered C2-RN1[3] (a second Fellowship, C2-RN2, was subsequently placed into service as well). A Boeing 737-200 (C2-RN3) was added to the fleet in 1975[5] and a Boeing 727-100 (C2-RN4) entered service on June 16, 1976.[6] Later in the 1970s the two Fellowships were sold to Air Niugini and more Boeings were added to the fleet.
By 1983 the fleet included seven aircraft, two Boeing 727-100s (the second was registered C2-RN7) and five Boeing 737-200s (C2-RN5, 'RN6, 'RN8 and 'RN9 having been added to the fleet);[7] since the entire population of Nauru at this time was about 8,000,[8] the airline was in the extraordinary position of having seating capacity equal to 10% of the Nauruan population. The airline also had a bad reputation for cancelling flights at the whim of its government owners, including using the Boeing 727s for low-level searches for Nauruan fisherman lost at sea while relatives on board were served alcohol by the flight attendants.[9] From this high point (at least in terms of fleet numbers) the airline gradually contracted in size, leasing some aircraft and selling others. Five years later in 1988 the fleet consisted of three Boeing 737-200s with the one remaining 727-100 leased out to Trans Australia Airlines. At this time the airline was badly affected by an industrial dispute with its pilots and was operating without a set timetable, a situation that lasted for several months.[10] In 1993 two of the 737-200s were replaced by Boeing 737-400s (C2-RN10 and 'RN11), leaving the venerable C2-RN3 (kept because it was convertible between passenger and freight configurations) to soldier on for a little while longer.[11] The airline, by now only operating a single 737-400, was corporatised in July 1996 as the Nauru Air Corporation (NAC) headed by a new CEO without ties to the government, enabling it to operate independently in a commercial marketplace, free from most of its government constraints[9]".
In 1998 Air Nauru came under the regulatory control of the Civil Aviation Authority of Australia and since then has been a select foreign carrier holding an Australian Air Operator's Certificate (AOC). 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 also suspended for brief periods in the 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. 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.[12] The aircraft was seized by creditors at Melbourne Airport on December 18, 2005.[13] Following the acquisition of a replacement aircraft (a Boeing 737-300) in mid-2006, the airline was rebranded as Our Airline and relaunched on 14 October 2006.[1]
Our Airline is wholly owned by the state and has 144 employees (at March 2007).[1] On November 26, 2007, the airline launched its new website and online booking facility.[1]
Air Nauru once had a remarkably comprehensive network in the Asia-Pacific, with service to Hong Kong, Kagoshima, Taipei, Okinawa, Singapore, Guam, Saipan, Koror, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Majuro, Tarawa, Honolulu, Honiara, Port Vila, Noumea, Apia, Pago Pago, Nadi, Tonga, Kanton Island, Niue, Raratonga, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Christmas Island.[15] The average load factor throughout the network was around 20%, with many flights carrying no or few passengers.[15] The Nauru government subsidized the airline with profits from phosphate mining. As the phosphate began to run out in the early 1990s, the airline began to stop service to unprofitable destinations.
Today services are provided from Nauru to Brisbane, Honiara, and Tarawa. Our Airline currently operates a once weekly service from Brisbane through Honiara to Nauru, with an extension to Tarawa and Nadi, Fiji. The Tarawa extension was suspended from July 2008 to November 2009 because, along with the high fuel prices, operating the Tarawa flight was not profitable without a connecting destination.[16][17]
Although it was reported in early 2007 that Our Airline would begin services between Nauru and Fiji in the very near future,[18] the airline will instead provide once weekly Tarawa to Nadi service on behalf of Air Kiribati beginning in November 2009.[19]
Air Nauru also provides services on behalf of Norfolk Air from Norfolk Island to Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne, and Sydney. A similar service was provided for Norfolk Air's predecessor, Norfolk Jet Express, until Norfolk Jet Express went out of business 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's Boeing 737 VH-RON chartered by the Norfolk Island Government.[20] This arrangement naturally ceased later that year when VH-RON was seized. After Ozjet stopped flying on behalf of Norfolk Air, Norfolk Jet Express's successor, in April 2009, Our Airline began operating the service.[21]
As of January 2011 the Our Airline fleet consists of two Boeing 737:
| Aircraft | Registration | Seats | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Boeing 737-300 |
VH-INU | 130 (2 class)[22] | Brisbane, Honiara, Nauru, Tarawa, and Nadi | The service from Tarawa to Nadi is operated for Air Kiribati |
Boeing 737-300 |
VH-NLK | 126 | Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Norfolk Island | Plane owned and operated by Our Airline on behalf of Norfolk Air |
In March 2006, the government of the Republic of China, reportedly as a reward for Nauru's diplomatic recognition of the ROC instead of the People's Republic of China,[23] assisted Air Nauru with the purchase of a second-hand 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.[24] In October 2006 the new Boeing plane came into service.