Fiji-based Air Pacific has been providing a charter B737-700 for weekly flights to Kiritimati from Tarawa via Nadi, Fiji, but announced last month it would be halting the service indefinitely because of the unpaid bills.
The Taiwan funding covers bills generated from February this year, plus an advance payment up to January 2009. Kiribati has maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 2003, when it switched from China to Taiwan.
A report from the Taiwan Embassy in Bairiki said Taiwan’s continued support for maintaining this service is based on realizing the importance of connecting Kiribati and the outside world. “It is also of great significance for development projects in the Line and Phoenix Island, and in particular tourism, which is making a lot of improvements for the generation of income for Kiribati,” the Embassy said in a statement.
The Kiribati Ministry of Transport confirmed the service resumed Wednesday last week and will continue until January 2009 before another review of the contract with Air Pacific.
But there’s a new route as part of the resumed Air Pacific service. An official with the Ministry Transportation said on the first leg of the flight, Air Pacific would fly from Tarawa to Nadi to Kiritimati and onto Honolulu. The return trip will be a direct flight from Honolulu to Tarawa.
The Air Pacific charters began in 2006 with Taiwan’s funding support. It was stopped more than a month ago when Air Pacific complained of defects in the Cassidy airport runway on Kiritimati.
