Talofa Air Begins Flights to Tonga July 1st

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Apia-based airline, Talofa Airways, is inaugurating flight service to Nukualofa, Tonga on July 1st Samoa time..that’s June 30th local time.

Airline CEO, Toleafoa Jeffrey Hunter, says their first flight to the island of Tongatapu departs Fagalii on that Saturday at 9:20 am and returns the same day via Pago Pago.

The airline will have four flights a week to Tonga, two originate from Fagalii and two flights begin from Pago.

Talofa Airways is being creative with their flight schedule, alternating flights between Fagalii and Pago to Tongatapu, which Toleafoa says “allows flexibility for any type of travel needs whether it be to visit family and friends, as tourist, or for business or conferences.

On Sunday and Thursday Pago time,  the flight will originate from Pago Pago, goes to Nukualofa and then returns to Fagalii.

On Monday and Saturday Samoa time, the flight originates in Fagalii and returns from Nukualofa via Pago Pago.

The flight duration is 1 hour 50 minutes.

While the airline, which only launched service last year was planning to fly to Vava’u, Toleafoa says they’ve decided to operate only to Tongatapu at this initial phase.

Fuel at Vava’u is not reliable at the moment for the schedule operation we are planning.

For reservations and ticket sales, Talofa Airways is using Palu Aviation and Jones Travel in Tonga and its existing travel agents, 3 airline offices in Apia and one in Tafuna.

The airline CEO says Talofa Airways has wanted to get the Tonga service going from day one but “we just needed to make sure we are ready to take on the additional route.

Toleafoa said, “We are excited about it now that we are finally going to make the Tonga service happen.”

Asked about challenges in getting the new service started, Toleafoa says “aviation is not short of challenges day in day out…just getting the airplanes running so we can provide reliable service is a huge challenge, and since we are so new and still very young in the airline business, we are doing it one step at a time.”

Those who have flown on Talofa are happy with the speed, reliable service and they arrive with their luggage.

But some are uncomfortable with the smallness of the Twin Commando 9-seater aircraft.

Toleafoa says, “Don’t worry about the size of our airplane…Laititi ae maini (lean and mean), built for this type of medium range flying.

He said for the Tonga service,” the aircraft is a comfortable and fast way to travel between the two island nations with only 1 hour 50 minutes flight time.

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