Air network grows in South Pacific

Island-hopping isn't as easy as it used to be when small trading ships linked many of the smaller islands scattered across the South Pacific.

But several small airlines are planning to begin frequent flights with aircraft which can carry 40 people.

Air Fiji, the country's domestic airline, has already opened a three-days-a-week service to Tonga, 700km south-east, using a 30-seater Brasilia.

It also runs a twice-weekly Brasilia service to Tuvalu, 965km north of Fiji, which it will extend to isolated Kiribati, a further 1125km north. The airline is also considering flights to Samoa and Niue.

Air Rarotonga, the Cook Islands domestic airline, intends to buy a Brasilia for flights to Samoa, 1300km to the north-east, calling at Niue on the way.

Further north, Air Marshall Islands has ordered two Dornier 328 30-seat turboprops. And Air Vanuatu, using a 40-seat Dash-8, has opened a weekly flight from the capital of Vila to New Caledonia, calling at Tanna in Vanuatu.

Royal Tongan Airlines, which recently leased a Boeing 737 for daily flights to New Zealand, plans to lease a 40-seater Short 360 turboprop for domestic flights and a Niue service.