Solomon Islands National Carrier, Solomon Airlines is now only waiting approval from the Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority before its leased Airbus can begin operations in Solomon Islands.
General Manager Commercials of Solomon Airlines, Gus Kraus says that an update will be provided next week to confirm if the aircraft can be released by the end of the month.He also confirmed that test flights have begun from the Brisbane to Melbourne before it can be given the green light.
He also mentioned that the Solomon Airlines is looking forward to fly the Solomon Islands athletes to Noumea, New Caledonia for the South Pacific Games.
Meanwhile, Mr Kraus had also confirmed that the Solomon Airlines chief engineer, Trevor Palmer has recently returned from Wellington in New Zealand where he examined records of a dash-8 aircraft of which Solomon Airlines had already made deposits to purchase.
Purchasing the Dash 8 aircraft will go through a lot of process but Solomon Airlines is expecting it by the end of November or early December this year.
With the purchase of its own Dash-8 aircraft, Solomon Airlines will expect to save between 2 to 5 million Solomon dollars per annum.