A new airline being planned in French Polynesia has been made to change its proposed fleet and extend its network.
Islands Airline has been in the process of securing its operating licence, which the government has now amended to include two turbo-prop planes for smaller outer island destinations.
Initially, the carrier wanted to use Embraer jets to serve the main routes only, but the planes were deemed too heavy for some of the airstrips.
The carrier's launch is expected in about a year and comes after protracted negotiations and a lengthy application process.
One of the Bombardier Q400s of Bill Ravel's company Islands Airline which is aiming to be in the polynesian sky by the end of 2020 Photo: Islands Airline
The airline obtained a licence last year only after the administrative court in Papeete ruled that the government's inaction amounted to an attempt to protect a monopoly held by Air Tahiti.
Islands Airlines now plans to fly to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and Austral islands as well as to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.
The airline is a project of a New Caledonia-based businessman Bill Ravel, who also founded Air Calin.
