Air Marshall Islands (CWM, Majuro) has taken delivery of its second Dash 8-100, P2-MCU (msn 208), which it will operate for virtual carrier Air Bikini (Majuro) in order to develop tourism to the UNESCO-listed atoll in the northern Marshall Islands, The Marshall Islands Journal has reported.
The aircraft was previously operated by PNG Air (CG, Port Moresby) and was sold to the regional Kili-Bikini-Ejit Government, which owns Air Bikini. It was ferried from Port Moresby via Rabaul and Kosrae to Majuro over the course of September 19-20, 2019.
The government is planning to use the aircraft to relaunch tourism in the Bikini Atoll. The atoll, a site of numerous US nuclear tests between 1948 and 1956, is practically uninhabited due to continuing low-level radiation exposure but has been UNESCO-listed since 2010. While long-term stays on the atoll are not possible, the government hopes to revive diving tourism in Bikini.
"The government will work with the development of Bikini so that dive Bikini operations can resume. The government, in the name of the President and Cabinet members, gives assurance that it will work with you to develop bungalows and other attractions to progress not just Bikini but also the Marshall Islands so tourism can move forward," Acting President of the Marshall Islands Brenson Wase said.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, Air Marshall Islands currently operates one Dash 8-100 and two Do228s on an entirely domestic network across the Pacific country.
