PAO POLYNESIAN Company slogan Airline of Samoa Headquarters Apia, Samoa Fleet size 3 | Destinations 7 Parent company Government of Samoa Founded 1959 | |
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Secondary hubs Faleolo International Airport Subsidiaries Polynesian Ground Handling Hubs Apia, Faleolo International Airport, Fagali'i Airport | ||
Polynesian airlines taxi takeoff landing
Polynesian Airlines is an airline based in Samoa. Its headquarters are located in the Samoa National Provident Fund (SNPF) Building on beach road in the capital, Apia. Formerly a Pan-Pacific carrier, the establishment of Virgin Samoa (A partnership between Virgin Australia and the Government of Samoa), Polynesian Airlines has restricted itself to shorter flights to neighbouring islands as part of the agreement. Polynesian's main operating base is Fagali'i Airport, Apia.
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Polynesian airlines advertisement 1998
History
The airline was established in 1959 and started operations in August 1959 with services between Apia and Pago Pago in American Samoa using a Percival Prince aircraft. The government of Western Samoa acquired a controlling interest in 1971. In 1982 Ansett Airlines of Australia signed a five-year management contract with the government to run the airline. This was extended for a further ten years in 1987. In February 1995 a commercial alliance with Air New Zealand was signed to develop marketing, sales and operational relationships. International jet operations have been taken over by Polynesian Blue. The airline is wholly owned by the Government of Samoa, which also has a 49% holding in Polynesian Blue.
Destinations
As of July 2015, the airline operates scheduled services between Fagali'i Airport, Faleolo Airport, Maota Airport and Pago Pago International Airport. More recently, since the cessation of Inter Island Airways services from Pago Pago, Polynesian also provides multi-weekly services to Ta'u (Fitiuta) and a weekly service to Ofu-Olosega islands of the Manu'a island group. using a fleet of three de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft with 19 seats each. The airline plans to resume flights to New Zealand using a Solomon Airlines Airbus aircraft in late 2015, a breakaway from the company's historic Boeing-Based Jet operation.
Earlier route network
Polynesian Airlines previously served the following international destinations: Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand; Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia; Rarotonga in the Cook Islands; Nuku'alofa in Tonga; Niue; Papeete in French Polynesia; and Honolulu and Los Angeles in the United States on a code share basis with Air New Zealand and in its own right with a leased Boeing 767 – an operation that bankrupted the airline.
Fleet
The Polynesian Airlines fleet comprises the following aircraft (as of August 2016):
Aircraft previously operated by the airline include: Douglas DC3; GAF Nomad; Hawker Siddeley HS 748; de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100; Boeing 737-200; Boeing 737-300; Boeing 737-800; Boeing 727-200; Boeing 767-300 and 767-200; and Britten Norman Islander.