Photo: Giff Johnson
After resuming air service connecting Australia with five central Pacific nations two months ago, Nauru Airlines announced at the end of last week that it is bumping up its service to weekly starting the first week of January.
The flights had been every two weeks since the resumption of regular service in October.
Nauru Airlines has resumed the only air service that connects Brisbane to Honiara, Nauru, Tarawa, Majuro and Pohnpei.
In addition to going weekly, this island hopper will shift from its current Sunday arrival to being a Thursday-Friday service, according to the airline.
Starting January 5, the air service will link Brisbane with these five countries, with a return along the same route on Fridays.
The air service is initially being supported by the Australian government, which is guaranteeing support for flights that are not breaking even with passengers and cargo.
The airline also recently appointed a new CEO, Brett Gebers, who has previous experience overseeing Solomons Air.
Previous CEO Robert Eoe is now a member of the Nauru Airlines board of directors, according to longtime Majuro businessman Anoop Kumar, who was until recently a long-time member of the Marshall Islands Aviation Task Force.
Kumar said he had the opportunity to meet the new airline CEO during a visit to Brisbane in late November. This afforded him the chance to lobby for increasing frequency of the air service and to urge Nauru Airlines to align the days with other connecting flights, which the airline's announcement by the airline addresses.
Nauru Airlines - under various different names over time - has serviced these islands since the 1970s. Its weekly air service was halted in March 2020 due to Covid border entry rules.