Business Briefs - North Edition
Business Briefs - North Edition
Marshall Islands
Air Marshall Islands has won a $4.1 million judgment against German aircraft manufacturer Dornier Luftfahrt in the Marshall Islands High Court. AMI had filed suit against the company last year. AMI has used Dornier 228s — a twin engine, 19-seat plane — since the mid-1980s for domestic service. The suit was filed after Dornier refused to return a $2 million deposit when a deal for two new Dornier 328s — a 30-seat plane — was cancelled by the Marshalls airline last year after a
new government took office and appointed a new board of directors for the airline.
Citing continuing performance problems with Majuro’s new 12-megawatt power plant, Marshalls Energy Company general manager William F. Roberts said in August that MEC has filed for a settlement through arbitration against the Deutz Australia Pty. Ltd. An engine design fault is resulting in a higher-than expected usage of lubrication oil than was agreed to in the contract performance requirements, a problem that is expected to cost the Marshalls Energy Company an additional $2 million over the 20 year life of the plant, Roberts said.
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Samoa
Musicians and band owners in Samoa are working on establishing a musicians’ association to help protect against the piracy of original Samoan music. RSA Band owner Amituanai Faleula alleges that piracy of original Samoan music is very common in Hawaii and the U.S. mainland but its also spreading to Australia and Samoa. The biggest targets of piracy are the original recordings of RSA Band and independent musician and recording artist Misiluki Sua.
Pro-Com Sky Cable TV officially opened in Samoa in late July, after conducting test and installing receivers. It will compete with the government-owned Televise Samoa. Customers will pay about US$100 for installation and about US$25 per month. The cable service will limit viewing from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m.
Polynesian Airlines plans to re-launch its second weekly flight between Apia and Honolulu at the end of October after delivery of its second B737-800 aircraft, said the airlines’ Pacific Islands manager Toleafoa J. Nickel. The Samoa government-owned airline resumed its Hawaii flights in November last year utilizing a new long-range B737- 800 plane with two weekly flights. However, in early May the airline reduced its service to once a week, to use the aircraft for other Pacific routes, such as New Zealand and Australia.
Tuvalu
Bingo in Tuvalu used to be a ladies’ game. At a cost of a few cents a card, with a payout of the entire take less a few cents, it was only costing $2-$3 a session with the counters shaken in a tin. Harmless entertainment costing little. But an expatriate saw the opportunity and went for gold. Regular gaming equipment and printed cards were brought in; jackpots of $50-$100 or more are now
the order of the day. Payouts of $2,000 at $15 a card have become a big attraction.
American Samoa
American Samoa-based Samoa Air resumed weekly flights to Vava’u in Tonga in late July. Service had been suspended for more than five weeks. The commuter carrier suspended service after it encountered mechanical problems with one of its two aircraft. The aircraft went into maintenance forcing Vava’u-bound passengers to reroute via Apia on Polynesian Airlines.
Bank of Hawaii officially opened its third branch in American Samoa in early August located at the government-owned Daniel K. Inouye Park in the village of Tafuna.
“Convenience for the people of the territory is the sole purpose of opening a third branch,” said local branch manager Brent Swenke. “As the population of the territory grows, we also need to grow along to accommodate banking needs.”
Hawaii
Columbus Line announced that Norton Lilly will serve as the line’s Hawaii agent, starting from August 1. Columbus Line’s west coast-Australia/New Zealand service calls in Hawaii every month.
Guam
Five years after the August 6, 1996 air crash of Korean Air Line crash into Nimitz Hill, Guam, one of America’s worst air disasters killing 254 passengers, KAL is expected to return. Guam Speaker Tony Unpingco said that he met with top KAL officials in August and they confirmed their intention by November to re-establish the Korean connection to both Guam and Saipan that prior to the tragic accident brought thousands of tourists on a regular basis.
Fiji
Despite the caution still being recommended by metropolitan governments about travel to Fiji, visitor numbers are on the increase. In June visitor totals amounted to 30,000, almost two and a half times the number for the same period last year, sending strong signs to the Fiji Visitors Bureau that its recent round of international promotions is having the right effect. Sitiveni Yaqona, chief executive of the FVB, said that an estimated 360,000 tourists would visit Fiji during 2001, a vast improvement over the 294,000 who came in 2000, though some considerable distance below the record numbers of 1999. Importantly also, the Australian and New Zealand markets, long the staples of Fiji tourism, were growing again. Taking advantage of the revival of Australian visitor interest in Fiji, Ansett International is promoting a new series of packages aimed at
further stimulating the down
under market.
Northern Mariana Islands
The Commonwealth is in danger of again losing the recently resumed nonstop flights between Saipan and Nagoya, Japan following reports that some travel agents in Japan have almost given up selling the Northern Marianas. This was the premise of a monthly report submitted to the Marianas Visitors Authority by its office in Japan, which cited the costly airfare between Nagoya and Japan.
