Peau Vavaʻu Ltd (or Air Waves of Vavaʻu) was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

based at the Pacific Royale Hotel in Nukualofa,

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. It operated domestic services. Its main base was Fuaamotu International Airport, Tongatapu, with hubs at Lifuka Island Airport and Vavau International Airport. Fua'amoto International Airport Entrance

Fua'amoto International Airport Entrance

History

Peau Vavaʻu was formed in May 2004 following the wake of the collapse of Royal Tongan Airlines. The airline was 50% owned by Crown Prince Tupouto'a.Peau Vava'u History (website)
It began operations on 9 June 2004, using a Douglas DC-3 leased from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

company Pion Air. In August 2004 the company was awarded a monopoly on domestic air transport under a new "one airline" policy, forcing the competing Fly Niu Airlines to cease operations. In August 2004 it announced the addition of a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander to its fleet. In November 2004 it added a chartered

De Havilland Canada Dash 8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

. that same month a test flight to

ʻEua Airport Eua Airport , known in Tonga as Kaufana Airport, is an airport in Eua, Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – ...

overshot the runway, resulting in a flat tyre. A second DC-3 arrived by Christmas 2004, when Peau Vavau purchased both DC-3s from Pion Air. In March 2005 Peau Vavau arranged to sublease an

Air Chathams Air Chathams Limited is an airline based in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It was established in 1984 and operates scheduled passenger services between the Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand along with routes between Auckland a ...

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, i ...

aircraft from Reef Shipping, which had set up an airline in

Niue Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tong ...

. In February 2005 the airline was criticised for the high fares it proposed charging for flights to

Niuatoputapu Niuatoputapu is a high island in the island nation of Tonga, Pacific Ocean. Its highest point is , and its area is . Its name means ''sacred island''. Older European names for the island are Traitors Island or Keppel Island. Niuatoputapu is ...

. In October 2005 the Tongan government threatened to withdraw the airline's monopoly after it had failed to service the

Niua Islands Niua is a division of the Kingdom of Tonga, namely the northernmost group of islands. It consists of three islands (Niuafoʻou, Niuatoputapu and Tafahi) which together have an area of 71.69 km2 and a population of 1,150. The largest village i ...

. The monopoly was finally withdrawn and the "one airline" policy overturned in May 2006. Flights were temporarily suspended in November 2006 when their corporate headquarters were destroyed during the 2006 Nukuʻalofa riots. Flights were planned to resume in May 2007. However, the airline never flew again, and its license was eventually surrendered in January 2008.

Destinations

Peau Vavaʻu operated scheduled flights to Tongatapu, Haʻapai, and

Vavaʻu Vavau is an island group, consisting of one large island ( ʻUtu Vavaʻu) and 40 smaller ones, in Tonga. It is part of Vavaʻu District, which includes several other individual islands. According to tradition, the Maui god created both Tongata ...

Fleet

The Peau Vavau fleet included the following aircraft: *

BAe Jetstream 41 The British Aerospace Jetstream 41 is a turboprop-powered feederliner and regional airliner, designed by British Aerospace as a stretched version of the popular Jetstream 31. Intended to compete directly with 30-seat aircraft like the Embraer ...

Beechcraft Queen Air The Beechcraft Queen Air is a twin-engined light aircraft produced by Beechcraft in several versions from 1960 to 1978. Based upon the Twin Bonanza, with which it shared key components such as wings, engines, and tail surfaces, but featuring ...

* Douglas DC-3 among the last DC-3 in regular scheduled service worldwide

Code data

* IATA Code: 3O * ICAO Code: PVU * Callsign: PEAU

External links

Peau Vava'u
(Archive)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peau Vava'u Defunct airlines of Tonga Airlines established in 2004 Airlines disestablished in 2008