Royal Tongan Airlines
[Royal Tongan Airlines went into recievership circa 2004, just after being warned by from the then General Manager to 'remove' these pages. These pages remain for reference material only. In 2006 two airlines were 'chartered' with providing domestic services: Peau Vava'u and Airlines Tonga]
At its peek, Royal Tongan Airlines flew regular flights between Sydney-Auckland-Tongatapu, Nadi-Tongatapu as well as regular flights between Auckland-Tongatapu-Hawai'i.
Daily flights were offered between Tongatapu-Ha'apai-Vava'u as well as the closer flight Tongatapu-'Eua. These daily flights did not include Sunday services, which is a restricted services day in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Flights to the outer-island Niua group is infrequent, due to the small population -- lack of demand, but one often heard about at least one-flight per month.
Royal Tongan Airlines also provided the flight service to Niue which linked together with the flight scheduled from New Zealand.
This photo is of the co-branded Air Pacific/Royal Tongan plane where one side of the plane had the Royal Tonga banner and the other side the Air Pacific banner. I'm not sure if it was planned that way, but in Tonga the flights I saw generally had the Royal Tonga side of the plane showing to the airport terminal so I guess depending on who was in charge of the flight the pilot was to ensure the correct branding was emphasised.
Parked on the Niue International Airport Tarmac, the ground crew scurries to load luggage and make last minute checks. Meanwhile passengers are either relaxing at the terminal for the short stop over, or taking a taxi ride into town to see the place before the flight departure.
Royal Tongan Airlines |
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http://www.tonic.to easily the Tonic.to Domain Name headaches.]