Solomon Islands Ministry of Aviation and Communications, Permanent Secretary, Francis Lomo said the suspension of Solomon airline services is due to the expiry of the air services agreement between Solomon Airlines and Fiji Airways.
Lomo said that the agreement expired around April this year.
He said following the expiry, they negotiated with Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji and agreed on the fifth freedom right.
Under that fifth freedom right, it will enable an airline to carry passengers from their own country to another country, and then pick up and drop off passengers from the intermediate country to a third country.
Lomo said they both agreed on that however, Fiji allegedly defied the agreement of the fifth freedom right and told them to stick to the previous expired agreement which is yet to be renewed.
According to Lomo they saw this as unfair in terms of the fifth freedom right because they allowed Fiji Airways to service the Solomons route from Fiji and Solomons to Port Vila while they did not allow Solomon Airlines to service the route from Port Vila to Nadi.
He added that at the moment they are waiting for a response from the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji in relation to a letter sent to them last Friday.
We have sent questions to the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji and they are yet to reply.
Meanwhile, Attorney General and Minister for Civil Aviation, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said the responsibility for the dispute rested with Solomon Islands.
Sayed-Khaiyum said there had been a disagreement between the airlines of the two countries over sharing the direct route but Fiji had anticipated that the dispute could be settled in the normal commercial manner.
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