Nauru orders a jet

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32778, 1 December 1971, Page 2

Nauru orders a jet

(N.Z P.A. Staff Correspondent) LONDON, November 30. The tiny Pacific Island Republic of Nauru, which obtained its independence from British, Australian and New Zealand trusteeship in 1968, is going into the international jet airline business.

Air Nauru has placed an order with the Fokker aircraft factories, of Amsterdam, for a Fokker Fellowship F2B jet aircraft, to be delivered in January.

The F2B is Fokker’s successor to the durable jetprop F 27 Friendship aircraft, and is being considered by N.A.C. as an eventual replacement for its Viscounts. Nauru’s plane will have a first-class cabin layout, with 40 seats placed four abreast in 10 rows, and it will carry tourists, Government officials, businessmen, and freight. Most of the freight will be perishable food imported by the Nauruans to supplement their limited home-grown supplies. Exports of the island’s phosphates will pay for both the aircraft and the incoming food.

An Australian aviation company, Business Jets, Ltd, of Melbourne, will service the plane and provide its crew.

Air Nauru plans to fly it regularly over the 1150 nautical miles from Brisbane to Honiara, in the Solomon group, and on to Nauru and other small Pacific Islands, including Tarawa and Majuro. Nauru’s area is only 8.2

square miles, and its runway is only 6000 ft. But the Fokker company is sure that the Fellowship, which was developed for short, undeveloped strips, will land there with ease.