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Solomon Airlines plans return to service after self-imposed shutdown

written by WOFA | June 8, 2016

Solomon Airlines Airbus A320 H4-BUS takes off from Sydney Airport. (Seth Jaworski)
A June 2015 image of Solomon Airlines’ Airbus A320 at Sydney Airport. (Seth Jaworski)

Solomon Airlines has ended a self-imposed shutdown and will return to a full domestic and international schedule from Thursday.

The carrier said in a statement it planned to operate one international flight on Wednesday – the evening IE700 departure from its Honiara hub to Brisbane – before returning to a normal schedule on Thursday.

Further, Solomon Airlines said it would also resume “all services provided to all other airlines utilising Henderson International Airport in its capacity as ground handling agent”.

The airline grounded all flights on Tuesday due to a dispute with the island nation’s government over what the airline said was millions of dollars of unpaid money.

Solomon Airlines chief executive Captain Ron Sumsum said Solomon Airlines unreservedly apologised for any inconvenience the situation had caused the airline’s passengers, its codeshare partners and other international carriers and their passengers.

Solomon Airlines general manager of operations and commercial Gus Kraus said on Tuesday the airline had been operating under financial duress.

“If we don’t address the financial duress, it will become a safety issue,” Kraus told Radio New Zealand.

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The airline did not say in its short statement on Wednesday whether the dispute with the government had been resolved.

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