Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Niue hopeful that underwrite on flights will not be needed

Posted at 22:04 on 11 October, 2012 UTC

Niue’s is confident it will not need to reimburse Air New Zealand as it increases flights to the island.

Niue currently gets a weekly flight from Auckland, but from next April, for a six months trial, there will be an additional fortnightly flight.

The flights are seen as vital for growing the island’s economy.

The Premier and Tourism Minister, Toke Talagi, says the underwrite commitment, which obliges the government to re-imburse the airline if patronage falls below a threshold, will also apply to the second flight.

“At the present moment provisions have been made for the underwrite but we haven’t had to use it for the first flight and we hope not to use it for the second flight, but the underlying principle behind the services to Niue is the fact that we do provide an underwrite as required.”

Niue’s premier, Toke Talagi.