Turbulent times for civil aviation administration in the Solomon Islands

On 5 November 2009 the Solomon Star carried a rather extraordinary set of revelations about alleged disharmony and possibly worse in civil aviation administration in the Solomon Islands:

• Civil Aviation is on the Spotlight Again
• Row erupted in Aviation and Communication Ministry
• "Gross Mismanagement of Public Funds"
• Board of Enquiry
• Minutes of Section Heads Meeting 26 October 2009

On 6 November 2009 the Solomon Star carried an editorial and reported on further developments and on 7 November 2009 reported that the Prime Minister had ordered an inquiry. On 18 November 2009 the Solomon Star reported that the inquiry was due to start that day and take about two weeks.

By way of background, on 7 August 2009 the Solomon Star reported the appointment of Ben Kere as Acting Director.

Some years ago I had a fascinating discussion of the challenges of civil aviation administration with a previous Director of Civil Aviation from the Solomons. It is not easy.

It can be interesting to read the results of audits done as part of ICAO's Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme for countries such as the Solomon Islands (2006 audit 276 page .pdf). Such audit results are available on the Flight Safety Information Exchange web site (optimised for MS Internet Explorer).

Solomons Airlines cannot operate between Santos and Brisbane

The Solomons Star reported on 19 March 2007 that Solomons Airlines is unable to operate between Santos in Vanuatu and Brisbane in Australia. The rights to operate such a service on a scheduled basis with fifth freedom rights would need to be negotiated by the Solomon Islands with Vanuatu and separately with Australia.