The French Polynesian government has granted a licence to a new airline being set up in Wallis and Futuna.
New airline planned in Wallis and Futuna Photo: supplied
Fly Coral was launched by a businessman Louis Alphonse last year as part of a project to improve connections mainly within the French Pacific.
The approval in Tahiti comes as Covid-19 ravages Tahiti while Wallis and Futuna keeps its borders closed.
The new airline was meant to end the paucity of flights from Wallis whose key regular air link is provided by New Caledonia's Aircalin to Noumea.
Fly Coral plans to employ 95 people and use either a small Airbus or an Embraer jet.
The company wants to cooperate with Air Tahiti Nui to access its network into North America and Europe and considers approaching Air New Zealand and also French Bee.
The project is to have Tahiti to Wallis flights via Samoa, thereby creating new links within Polynesia.
In recent years there had been strong demand for more flights between Wallis and New Caledonia, with many travellers unhappy with Aircalin, in particular with its fare policy.