Real Tonga, stylised as REALtonga, was an airline that operated domestic flights within the Pacific island-country of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

. It commenced operations in March 2013, becoming the twelfth airline to operate domestic flights in Tonga since air services began there. In 2020 the airline ceased all operations.

History

Real Tonga commenced operations on 4 March 2013, taking over services previously operated by Chathams Pacific, a subsidiary of New Zealand-based airline Air Chathams. The airline was started up with funding from the owner Tevita Palu, as well as the gifting of several aircraft from China to the Tongan government, including a

Xian MA60 The Xi'an MA60 (, ''Xīnzhōu liùshí'', "Modern Ark 60") is a turboprop-powered airliner produced by China's Xi'an Aircraft Industrial Corporation under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC). The MA60 is a stretched version of the ...

, which were then leased to Real Tonga. The use of the MA60 generated controversy in both Tonga and New Zealand due to the type's safety record, and the New Zealand government issued a travel advisory, warning against air travel in Tonga. As a result of this, tourist numbers dropped, particularly on the outer islands, where the reduction in the number of tourists had a significant impact on the local economy. In June 2014, Real Tonga announced that it had purchased two British Aerospace Jetstream 32 aircraft from Australia. On 12 May 2020 Real Tonga was not operating after the MA60 lease was terminated, the Y-12 lease expired and the Saab 340 was out of service after a birdstrike incident. This occurred amid issues related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, including the laying off of staff and pilots. Two weeks later, on 27 May, the Tongan government announced they were cutting support for Real Tonga in favour of a new airline to be called Lulutai Airlines. It was reported that the airline had been running at a loss for seven years since its inception in 2013. This would make the Real Tonga the fifth Tongan domestic operator to cease operations since Royal Tongan Airlines collapsed in 2004. (See also: List of defunct airlines of Tonga).

Safety record

Attempts were made to verify that the MA60 flown by Real Tonga was safe. Pilot Rodger McCutcheon said the MA60 is an excellent airplane. Ex-Air New Zealand pilots with over 15000 flight hours offered to re-certify the plane. The chief executive of Samoa Air added that he didn't believe the MA60 aircraft, gifted to Tonga by China, is a significant safety issue.
However, on March 6 of 2015, the airline decided to ground and return the MA60 turboprop, due to pressure from the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

government. By doing this, the

Pacific island The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

nation triggered a release of NZ$10 million in aid to it. A 68-seater ATR 72-600 was leased from

Fiji Airways Fiji Airways, formerly Air Pacific, is the flag carrier of Fiji. It operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 27 destinations, and has an extended network of 108 international destinations through its codeshare partners, includi ...

to operate a number of charter flights.

Destinations

Fleet

The Real Tonga fleet comprised the following aircraft (as of August 2016):

References

{{Reflist Defunct airlines of Tonga Airlines established in 2013 Airlines disestablished in 2020 2013 establishments in Tonga 2020s disestablishments in Tonga