PAPE’ETE (Oceania Flash) — French Polynesia’s flag carrier Air Tahiti Nui took delivery of its second Airbus A440-300 in a month in a bid to gear up for more direct control of its international airlinks, the French territory’s Office of the President said in a release. The second plane, which has been commissioned under the name “Mangareva,” one of French Polynesia’s atolls, landed at the weekend at Tahiti’s Faa’a international airport.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, French Polynesia’s President Gaston Flosse said the acquisition of the two aircraft was a great achievement for Tahiti.
“This is a great satisfaction, an immense joy and a feeling of success for those who, like me, believed in the need to set up this company, ATN, in spite of the early hardships,” Flosse said.
Last month, after French airline AirLib decided not to scrap its Paris-Pape’ete route, a crucial link for French Polynesia’s tourism industry, the French Pacific territory’s government managed to secure landing rights in Paris and take direct control of its airlines to Europe.
Flosse, however, admitted running the airline would he hard.
“Everyone knows the Pape’ete-Paris route is commercially one of the hardest in the world, because of the high variability of seasons and the high costs related to the long distance,” he said.
“But we now have very important assets: two brand new aircraft, no surplus staff and above all, the French Polynesian people’s confidence in their airline,” he added.
