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| Founded | 1962; 63 years ago (1962) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hubs | Honiara International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 7 | ||||||
| Destinations | 33 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Honiara,Solomon Islands | ||||||
| Key people | Sean Te'o (CEO) | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
Solomon Airlines is theflag carrier ofSolomon Islands,[1] based inHoniara.[2]
Solomon Airlines was established in 1962 as acharter airline by Laurie Crowley. Crowley had a charter operation inPapua New Guinea with occasional charter flights to the Solomons using a singlePiper Aztec. As no commercial aircraft were based in Solomon Islands, Crowley decided to start an airline and called it Megapode Airlines.[citation needed]
Papua New Guinea-basedMacair purchased Megapode in 1968, and changed the airline's name to Solomon Islands Airways, with the acronym of SOLAIR, and changed the operation from a charter airline to a regular schedule. Under Macair, SOLAIR served the island ofBougainville, Papua New Guinea, with twoDe Havilland Doves and twoBeechcraft Barons.[citation needed]
In 1975, Macair (including its SOLAIR subsidiary) were bought byDennis Buchanan, owner ofTalair in Papua New Guinea, and in 1976, the airline received twoBeechcraft Queen Air 80 airplanes. At the time, the Solomon Islands Government bought 49 percent of the airline's shares and with rights to purchase the remaining 51 percent by the next five years.[citation needed]
For the next five years, growth was slow but steady. A brand newFairchild Swearingen Metroliner was bought, and services were established toVanuatu.[citation needed]
In 1984 the Government decided to purchase all of the airline's remaining shares, and twoDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and oneEmbraer EMB 110 Bandeirante were leased from Talair. Soon after full Government take-over, the three leased planes were returned. In 1987, the sale of the airline and its assets Pacific Car Rental (a subsidiary ofAvis) and the tour company Hunts of the Pacific, were completed.[citation needed]
The new ownership was met with skepticism and distrust by airline workers, and many trained personnel left the company, including some on the managerial level. The government was faced with the task of rebuilding the airline, and it started doing so by investing 2 million dollars to buy two DHC-6-300 Twin Otters. Soon, a new livery was introduced, and the name was changed to "Solomon Airlines" officially.[citation needed]
A joint venture withQantas followed, and then Solomon Airlines entered the jet age by leasing aBoeing 737 fromAir Pacific. Solomon Airlines and Air Pacific soon also made a joint venture, but when Air Pacific announced in 1989 it was planning to substitute its Boeing 737 with aBoeing 767 to upgrade international services, Solomon Airlines was forced to lease one from another company, and so it decided on leasing a 737 owned byInternational Lease Finance Corporation. Since then, the airline has operated with leased 737s alongside its own turbo-props.[citation needed]
In 1999, after ethnic violence broke out in the Solomons, theUnited Nations imposed sanctions which severely damaged the airline's international operations, and at one point, the airline was forced to retain only is scheduled services toBrisbane. Since the end of the conflict, the airline has reestablished its international network.[citation needed]
In November 2006, Solomon Airlines obtained a Boeing B737-300 aircraft including pilots and cabin crew, leased by the SpanishAirClass Airways.[citation needed]
For the months of January and February 2009, Solomon Airlines leased a De Havilland Canada Dash 8 seating 40, fromVincent Aviation ofWellington,New Zealand while one of its Twin Otter aircraft was undergoing heavy maintenance at Honiara.[citation needed]
In August 2009, Solomon Airlines obtained an Airbus A320-200 aircraft including pilots, leased byStrategic Airlines.[3] When the lease with Strategic Airlines expired Solomon Airlines acquired an Airbus A320-211 and obtained its own Air Operators Certificate.[citation needed]
On 7 June 2016 Solomon Airlines suspended all operations, including international and domestic flights and ground operations, stranding passengers at Honiara.[4] The airline's CEO, Ron Sum Sum, said that the grounding was caused by the government's failure to pay millions of dollars in arrears.[5][6] The airline resumed operations two days later.[7]
On 12 May 2023, CEO Gus Kraus confirmed that the airline was looking to acquire a second A320-200 to expand services and cater to an expected increase in demand from the2023 Pacific Games to be held inHoniara later in the year.[8]
On 22 May 2024, Solomon Airlines began launching weekly direct flights betweenAuckland,New Zealand andPort Villa,Vanuatu to fill the gap caused by the bankruptcy of Vanuatuan national carrier,Air Vanuatu. New Zealand has several Vanuatuan RSE (Recognised Seasonal Employer) workers who were stranded because of Air Vanuatu's liquidation.[9]
Solomon Airlines currently[when?] operates regular return services from Honiara to Brisbane-Australia, Nadi-Fiji (own aircraft and codeshare), Port Vila, Vanuatu (own aircraft and codeshare), Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (codeshare only), and Tarawa, Kiribati.
Solomon Airlines also operates an extensive domestic network around Solomon Islands.
Solomon Airlines hascodeshare agreements with the following airlines:[16]
The airline's original livery consisted of an overall white fuselage, with acheatline extending up onto the vertical fin in colours mirroring those of the national flag. The vertical fin was mainly royal blue, with five white stars prominently displayed. The single word "Solomons" was carried above the window line forward, along with the national flag.
With the acquisition of the Airbus A320 in 2011 a decision was made to "refresh" the livery. The new livery consists of an all-white fuselage with the single word "Solomons" carried above the forward windows and "Spirit of Solomons" in grey below the forward window line. The tail and winglets have a stylised version of the national flag. The underside of the fuselage has a large white flysolomons.com on a blue background.
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As of August 2025[update], Solomon Airlines operates the following aircraft:[17]
| Aircraft | In Service | Orders | Passengers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A320-200 | 2 | — | ||
| De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter | 4 | — | ||
| De Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 | 1 | |||
| Total | 7 | |||
In the past, Solomon Airlines operated:[citation needed]
Solomon Airlines have lost two aircraft during their history. These were a BN-2A Islander in 1978 near Bellona Island and a DH6 Twin Otter in 1991 over Guadalcanal, resulting in 26 fatalities.[18]
