Flights for students

THE government is expected to charter two flights for students studying in Papua New Guinea institutions this week.Solomon Islands High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea Bernard Bata’nisia told the Solomon Star about 180 students are still stranded in Honiara awaiting available flights to travel to their institutions.The Solomon Star understands that this will be the first time the government is chartering flights for our students in PNG.

This is because of the increasing number of students travelling to study in PNG, after the government’s initiative to send more students to PNG this year and reduce those in Fiji.Mr Batanisia said that over the last few weeks all flights to Port Moresby has been fully booked causing hiccups for the students to travel to their destinations.The ministry of education has advised me that the government might be chartering two flights for our students, he said. With some institutions now into their fourth week in school, some students are still reportedly stranded in Honiara.However, Mr Batan’sia said the problem should be solved after the two proposed flights come through.Meanwhile, last weekend eight SIG sponsored students have been offloaded by Solomon Airlines because the flight was fully booked with 30 extra passengers.The flight had to be delayed an hour.

The flight on Saturday to Port Moresby also left some students in dismay after their luggage were offloaded in Honiara which was expected to arrive on Monday this week.Frustrated students said they were not notified that their bags would be offloaded until they arrived in Port Moresby.We have nothing to wear now because all our clothes are still in Honiara and some of us are transiting to other provinces. We don’t know if the bags will reach us on time, one affected student said.The Solomon Star understands that it is the international aviation regulation that lost items in baggage would not be compensated.Our students in Fiji travelling to USP also faced similar problems last Saturday when some students were offloaded because the flight was fully booked.