Nausori Airport Deal ‘Done’

A deal to ex­tend the runway at Nausori Interna­tional Airport has been done and approved by Fiji Airports, the Lands Department, iTaukei Lands Trust Board (TLTB) and the land­owners.

This was revealed by Prime Min­ister Voreqe Bainimarama at a ta­lanoa session at the Mahadevi Tem­ple at Vuci, Nausori, on Saturday night.

Resident Narayan Sami asked the Prime Minister to provide an up­date on the extension of the Nau­sori Airport.

Mr Bainimarama said now that deal had been struck, work should begin soon.

Answering a question by Opposi­tion member Ro Kiniviliame Kili­raki in the Parliament sitting in March on the progress of the ex­tension, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had explained ne­gotiations with landowners were continuing.

“It began a few years back and from the village of Naselai and three of the landowning units from Natogadravu,” he said.

“Some of the leases will be leased through the TLTB and the others through the Ministry of Lands.”

The current constraints at Nausori Airport he said was fundamentally the length of the runway.

He said Nausori International Air­port, like all the other airports in Fiji apart from Nadi, did not make a profit essentially because of the economies of scale at these airports.

“Now, the Nausori Airport, cur­rently, for example, the largest air­craft that lands there is the (Boe­ing) 737-800 that has direct flights to Sydney and also to Auckland,” Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said.

“However, this aircraft actually flies also not a full load because of the length of the runway.”

The current runway length he said was about 1868 metres long and 30 metres wide.

The ideal length for the Boeing 737 operational on full load capacity, Mr Sayed-Khaiyum said, was 2100 me­tres, so this was why all these years when it had been flying it did not take the full load because it needed a longer runway.

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Source: Blog