American Samoa's Samoa Air Vacations which recently announced plans to start a weekly charter flight to Honolulu next month is still trying to raise capital to start the venture.
The Company says the US Department of Transportation requires charter companies to deposit an insurance bond prior to submitting the charter plan for approval.
Samoa Air CEO Andre Lavigne says the bond is refundable and Samos Air is willing to pay attractive interest rates to any bond provider.
Mr Lavigne says if there had been swift support from business and government, the service could have started this weekend.
He says the service would use a DC 10 which would not be susceptible to the runway damage that Hawaiian Air had experienced at Pago Pago.
Mr Lavigne says once the service starts 20 part time employees will be hired.
