Nauru Airlines

History

Nauru Airlines 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 jet registered VH-BIZ. Regular scheduled services commenced after the delivery in January 1972 of the airline's first Fokker F28 Fellowship twin jet, registered C2-RN1 (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 and a Boeing 727-100 (C2-RN4) entered service on 16 June 1976. 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); since the entire population of Nauru at this time was about 8,000, 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. 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.

In the early 1990s, an Air Nauru 737 was chartered to operate the Auckland-Niue route of Niue Airlines, the company's only service.

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. 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.

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. The aircraft was seized by creditors at Melbourne Airport on 18 December 2005. 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.

Nauru Airlines is wholly owned by the state and had 65 employees in July 2012. On 26 November 2007, the airline launched its new website and online booking facility.

Destinations

Nauru Airlines serves the following destinations as of March 2016:

Air Nauru once had a remarkably comprehensive network in the Asia-Pacific, with service to Hong Kong, Kagoshima, Taipei, Okinawa, Manila, 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 Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island. The average load factor throughout the network was around 20%, with many flights carrying no or few passengers. 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.

Since relaunching services in 2006, the airline has repeatedly adjusted its route map. When the airline initially resumed services in 2006, it offered a twice-weekly service from Brisbane to Honiara, Nauru, Tarawa, and Majuro. These were quickly curtailed, with flights to Majuro eliminated. 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. The Tarawa extension was suspended again in 2011 because of disputes, but it was resumed in early 2012. Meanwhile, Honiara service was suspended around the same time.

Although it had been reported in early 2007 that Our Airline would begin services between Nauru and Fiji in the very near future, the airline instead provided once weekly Tarawa to Nadi service on behalf of Air Kiribati beginning in November 2009. However, the service between Nauru and Fiji which began in 2010 ceased in December 2011 due to the dispute between Kiribati and Fiji. This was replaced with a bi-weekly service that operated from Nauru to Nadi nonstop.

In 2012, the airline announced the resumption of service to Majuro. Today services are provided from Nauru to Brisbane, Nadi, Majuro, and Tarawa. These destinations are serviced by a twice-weekly flight from Brisbane to Nauru, with a weekly extension to Tarawa and Majuro and a bi-weekly extension to Nadi.

Nauru Airlines has filed for permission to start flights to Guam in March 2017.

Services provided to Norfolk Island

Norfolk Island's Norfolk Jet Express and Norfolk Air had chartered Our Airline to fly its services Norfolk Island to Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne, and Sydney. Norfolk Jet Express went out of business on 4 June 2005 and ceased using Air Nauru's services. Norfolk would soon get a government operated airline, called Norfolk Air, but with no planes of its own, Qantas would then operate the flights from 11 June 2005 using Air Nauru's Boeing 737-400 VH-RON . This arrangement naturally ceased later that year when VH-RON was seized, due to Air Nauru's own financial problems. Other airlines filled the gap for Norfolk Air, but Air Nauru again started providing aircraft for Norfolk Air flights in April 2009. The Norfolk government closed down Norfolk Air in March 2012, with a new agreement that Air New Zealand will take over the Norfolk Island flights, using its own aircraft.

Fleet

The Nauru Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):

Previously operated aircraft:

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, 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. In October 2006 the new Boeing plane came into service. The plane was registered as VH-INU and named as 'Naoero'. In 2008, the Airline bought their second Boeing 737-300 adorned with a full Norfolk Air livery, remaining till now despite Norfolk Air's current state of closure. The plane was registered as VH-NLK. Later in March 2013, the Airline purchased a Boeing 737-300 from GECAS. The plane was painted in the 'Our Airline' livery in Melbourne, making its first visit to Brisbane Airport on 3 September 2013. The plane is believed to be put into service very soon.