Air Kiribati (IK, Tarawa) has wet-leased B737-700 from Nauru Airlines (Nauru) to operate scheduled flights between Tarawa and Kiritimati. Air Kiribati posted the announcement to its social media accounts on August 2, with weekly roundtrips starting on August 11 after operating flights to Kiritimati on an ad-hoc basis since early June.
The 3,200-kilometre sector between the country's capital and its Christmas Island outpost (not to be confused with Australia's Christmas Island territory in the Indian Ocean) is beyond the range of Air Kiribati's single DHC-8-100, DHC-6-400, and three DHC-6-300s.
"This collaboration aims to provide a seamless and convenient travel experience for passengers, enhancing connectivity between these two beautiful destinations. Flights are available from Brisbane to Kiritimati, Nauru and Tarawa to Kiritimati," said Nauru Airlines via social media.
Air Kiribati has a long-running partnership with Nauru Airlines. That airline, along with Fiji Airways (FJ, Nadi), are the only scheduled international passenger carriers flying into Kiribati. Nauru Airlines presently flies a B737-700 into Tarawa every Thursday but has now started to sell an additional weekly flight that will run Nauru - Tarawa - Kiritimati - Tawara - Nauru every Saturday from mid-August, with the Tarawa - Kiritimati - Tawara sectors operating on behalf of Air Kiribati.
Nauru Airlines has built a tidy business providing ad hoc and contracted wet-leased charter flights for various airlines. Its fleet of five B737s (including two B737-300(SF)s) makes it one of the larger and more successful operators in the Southwest Pacific.
