Tongan airline saying little after plane returned to owners

1.00pm

Any New Zealanders stuck in Tonga after Royal Tonga Airlines suspended international flights on Friday are being advised to contact the NZ High Commission in Nuku'alofa.

The Tongan government-owned Royal Tongan Airlines (RTA) had been operating around the South Pacific with a chartered Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 757, since November, but services stopped on Friday when the aircraft was returned to its owner.

New Zealand's High Commissioner in Tonga, Warwick Hawker, said today he did not know how many New Zealanders were stuck in Tonga as a result of the airline's problems, because the airline had put out almost no information regarding the apparent repossession of its 757.

"Clearly the airline has some very serious financial difficulties," he told National Radio.

However, he said he did not think there were very many stranded New Zealanders.

Polynesian Airlines and Air New Zealand were continuing to run flights in and out of the country, but if any New Zealanders were experiencing difficulty they should seek assistance from the High Commission in Tonga.

The airline is still running domestic flights.

But aviation sources said at the weekend that fuel suppliers, other airlines and travel agents had recently been insisting on cash payments, but undisclosed amounts were still owed and winding up notices were being filed against RTA.

In a statement yesterday the airline said it had decided "to suspend international operations because of concerns regarding the economic viability of the service".

The airline would focus on its domestic services in Tonga, the statement said.

A senior regional diplomat involved in crisis budgetary talks with Tonga said today the kingdom did not have the money to pay.

"They seem to have spent millions of dollars of public money keeping it going and I don't know where they will get any more," he said.

The airline's problems are the second financial disaster in Tonga in the past four years.

The king lost $42.7 million -- around 40 per cent of the government's annual revenue -- to his court jester, Californian Jessie Bogdonoff, who lost it on doubtful investments. US court action failed to recover any of the money.

- NZPA