Fly Niu Airlines (Tongatapu) is hoping to restart operations after a 14-year hiatus and fly between Tongatapu and Auckland International, Kaniva Tonga News has reported.

The airline's founder and owner ‘Atu Fīnau has already met with the Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva and presented his idea for the resumption of operations. Fly Niu Airlines would initially operate with two as of yet unspecified aircraft.

Finau, an aviation consultant and engineer, said he had access to aircraft from Iceland and Canada, but did not go into any details as to the types.

He already tried to revive the airline in 2014, but the plan hit a wall after a ministerial reshuffle in 2015.

Fly Niu Airlines terminated flights in 2004 after the government of Tonga granted domestic monopoly rights to Peau Vavau (Tongatapu), which itself collapsed in 2009. Currently, the only active Tongan airline is privately-owned Real Tonga Airlines, which has been operational since 2013.

The Auckland-Tongatapu route is currently operated 6x weekly by Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) and 3x weekly by Virgin Australia International (VA, Brisbane International), the ch-aviation capacity module shows.