SOLOMON Islanders will wait until a new government is elected to re-negotiate a settlement of the three month aviation impasse with Fiji.
PACNEWS has been reliably informed that a delegation of senior government officials from Honiara was in Suva this week to thrash out pending issues with their Fiji counterparts.
The meeting went well and officials were on the verge of signing a Joint Memorandum of Understanding when Honiara informed its officials not to initiate any agreement, PACNEWS was informed.
Resolving the on-going deadlock on landing rights between the two national airlines, Solomon Airlines and Fiji Airways was amongst a host of issues in the draft MOU between the two governments.
An official who spoke to PACNEWS on condition of anonymity said in the proposed MOU both sides agreed in principle to lift the ban imposed on their national airlines not to land in each other’s international airport.
“We have to wait for final approval from capital. In Solomon Islands case, it might be after the national elections on 19 November when a new government is elected, said the official.
On Wednesday, Fiji’s Department of Information issued an advisory to the local media that an MOU signing between Fiji and Solomon Islands was postponed to a later date. It didn’t give any reasons.
All international flights between Honiara and Fiji were suspended indefinitely on 15 July this year after both governments accuse each other of breaching their air services agreement.
