By Mataeliga Pio Sioa
“Get Us A Plane”. Yes, we have heard that.
Same with this one too!. “No! We have millions of tala in debt to pay off first on our national airline Samoa Airways.”
So! There we are. Here we are. Whatever!
Our politicians are locked up at the horns like un-neutered bulls, trying to wear each other out by ‘don’t give a damn what people think’ party politics
As our feuding political leadership gorged on the raised dust of pride and vengeful retaliation, seemingly with nary a care whether or not we “Get Us A Plane,” the rich economic benefits Samoa is supposed to reap are literally flying bye-bye out of our treasury vaults.
Air New Zealand and Fiji Airways are flapping home on happy wings and rich smiles to shine on big fat, waiting, bank accounts at home.
Both have become household names to our swelling Samoan flying community since PM Fiame’s Government slammed the door on our own national carrier.
Samoa ‘what’s its name again’?
Our Teuila Festival last week turned into an embarrassing, shameful revelation not just for our pride as a country but on how our enforced loss was flaunted right before our own eyes.
What was supposed to be the proud promotion of Samoa as a destiny for our tourists was saturated by the promotional presence of our neighbour’s rival airline Fiji Airways.
The annual search for our fairest Samoan maiden, to climax our Teuila Festival, featured a dominating presence by the rival airline.
As one of the sponsors they do of course deserve the recognition for their promotional support. Thank you and all the best to you too.
Unfortunately, whatever the good intentions, it gave a whacking kick up the dangling pride of a proud people victimised by their own badly polarised political indecision.
“I just wished I could turn into a chair at the shame of watching our own pageant dominated by outside commercial interests”.
This overheard agonising reaction summed up excruciatingly the simmered emotions that flared into an ugly recoil at the overwhelming intrusion of a compelling outside presence, into what was an exclusive national identity quest in search of the land’s fairest maiden.
Pride aside, the Teuila Festival we had worked so hard on for over three decades, to promote Samoa as a holiday travel destination, has thrived and flourished well enough for us to reap the benefits fully.
The rewarding process starts with our own national carrier capitalising on the travel surge and flows on from there to the whole country as soon as the flight lands.
Sadly, all we are left with is to look on in despair while muttering, ’Get Us A Plane.”
“We’re like a farmer with no car who is ready to harvest a huge taro plantation at Aleipata, standing on the side of the road, hopeful for a passing car to stop and transport his produce to the market.”
This was one expressed opinion that stood out as part of the agonising national worry at abandoning our travel industry to the whims of outside airline carriers?
“What if we as this farmer are made to depend for transport on ANZ and Fiji Airways but left abandoned on the side of the road when they whizzed past without stopping?”
Tourism receipts for the last 12 months period ended June 2023 recorded more than $400m tala generated by visitors to Samoa, with slightly more than a half of the total amount of revenue from returning or visiting friends and relatives.
Slightly less or 35 per cent credited the overseas tourists on holiday in the country.
“If we were running our own aircraft during this surging period of travel we would have paid off all our debt by now,” deputy opposition leader Lauofo Fonotoe believed.
He made a convincing argument on the issue following the noticeable jump in overseas travel for the Teuila Festival and several other international events hosted earlier in Samoa so far this year.
The ‘Get Us A Plane’ supporters are turning up the high volume on their call and with the economic statistics to give it credibility they are easier to trust and agree with.
So far we have heard little or virtually none from the ‘Pay Our Debt First’ crowd with the ruling Government in the lead.
One option that has remained relatively quiet in this raging debate is ‘Joint Venture’.
We have had success with that one at one time until it took a no return route and we have not heard from it since.
Maybe it is still an option that is worth re-visiting, even if just to contrast the pros and cons of the ‘Get Us A Plane’ call resounding all over the place.
It is still a welcome relief though to the “ No We Have To Pay Our Debts First” option that is becoming a major ‘Pain In The Butt’ non choice.