28 Apr 2014

Kiribati says all is mended after row with Fiji Airways

3:43 pm on 28 April 2014

The President of Kiribati has confirmed it received a formal complaint by Fiji Airways over the quality of jet fuel.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Communications, Tarsu Murdoch, told the Kiribati Independent that Fiji Airways was unhappy with Kiribati's efforts to follow the right reporting procedure concerning fuel quality.

After a regular fuel sample went missing in Fiji, en route to a laboratory in New Zealand, the ministry had become suspicious that Fiji was hiding or tampering with the sample.

But the chief executive of the Kiribati Oil company, Aree Redfern, and the courier, confirmed Fiji Airways staff accidentally removed it from a flight after mistaking it for something else.

The fuel sample returned a successful result, and President Tong says the reporting system should have been better.

"I think there were some questions. And I think what Fiji Air had was they felt that those questions were not being answered adequately but I think from our side we said they had been dealt with but not reported in the form that was required. We have dealt with this a long time back."

Anote Tong.