Samoa Airways (OL, Apia Faleolo) has commenced jet operations following the arrival of its first jet aircraft, B737-800 I-NEOS (msn 32733), in the South Pacific this past weekend.
On wet-lease from Italy's Neos Air (NO, Milan Malpensa), the twinjet was deployed into service on its maiden flight - OL731 Apia Faleolo-Auckland International - on Monday, November 14. Samoa Airways will run the route 6x weekly alongside a 2x weekly Apia-Sydney Kingsford Smith service.
The carrier's launch also coincides with the demise of predecessor Virgin Samoa (Apia Faleolo), a joint-venture between the Samoan government and Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International).
Samoa Airways also operates scheduled regional services, previously operated as Polynesian Airlines (Apia Fagali'i), using a fleet of three DHC-6-300 turboprops linking Apia Fagali'i with Pago Pago in American Samoa as well as domestic flights within American Samoa linking Pago Pago with Fitiuta and Ofu due to the lack of a remaining American Samoa based operator.
