Tonga's airport makeovers almost complete

Transcript

A major upgrade of Tonga's two main airports is almost complete with larger aircraft expected to use the facilities from April.

The Fua'amotu airport on Tongatapu and the airport on Vava'u have undergone renovations which means the former can cater for a  Boeing 777 aircraft now and the latter can take international flights from Fiji as well as Hercules relief flights if needed.

The Chief Executive of Tonga Airports, Viliami Ma'ake, told Koro Vaka'uta the work will provide a big boost to the country.

VILIAME MA'AKE: Our plan is of course based on what the airlines are planning in terms of aircraft fleet, et cetera. Air NZ is planning to phase away their 767 and introduce their 777 - that's why we embark on this upgrade of the main runway, make it more modern. We have just finished the works and the classification number is being raised now.

KORO VAKA'UTA: So when will the 777 be able to land?

VW: They have submitted a schedule for the beginning of April this year. We are looking forward to that.

KV: And in terms of the upgrade, what else has been upgraded at Fua'amotu first of all?

VW: The main thing was to resurface, upgrade the strength of the pavement. And we also expanded the turning bays at both ends of the runway. We also did some expansion at the apron for turning and parking.

KV: And I understand similar work has happened in Vava'u. What was the upgrading there?

VW: We have done similar work - basically resurfacing work, expansion of turning bays and targetting the Hercules Charlie 130 aircraft as the design (inaudible) for Vava'u. The aircraft operating there now are mostly ATR32s, ATR 42s but we have used the Charlie 130 as the design aircraft basically to allow relief operations when required. After the upgrade job we had cyclone Winston, the upgrade was timely, we were able to plan for Charlie 130 operations into there. Fortunately we didn't need to. But in due course we might need to do that.

KV: And apart from runways in Tongatapu and Vava'u, what other upgrading was done? The terminal as well?

VW: Yes we are doing some renovations at the terminal building. We are setting up new equipment, designing satellite approaches etc. We are introducing some new equipment for air navigation, basically to make it safer, to make sure the capacity is adequate for future aircrafts.

KV: When will that work all be complete?

VW: Well a lot of them already are finished like in Vava'u. Fiji Airways is introducing international services between Nadi and Vava'u starting in April. We have set up security services, air force, training of passengers. And also planning to put in radio communication, renewing the tower there, building a new tower. There is a lot of activities going on.