Q1. Mr Koroitamana,
a local newspaper published on Friday that there
was going to be a board meeting to determine whether
you would still be the CEO or not of Airports Fiji
Ltd. What can you tell us about this?
A1. The board meeting has nothing to do with
that media article. It was just a normal board meeting
because we needed board decisions on certain papers,
most of them were approved. One of the things that
were discussed was the question of the allocation
of the commercial space within the renovated building,
which we are creating. It is our task to put together
the necessary papers and make recommendations to
the board based on the tender applications and that
is what the board meeting was all about.
Q2. Airports Fiji Ltd. is in charge of the
commercial and safety operations of all the airports
in Fiji. In the current moments that the world
is living, how satisfied are you with the security
levels at Fiji airports?
A2. We are building up our security to be able
to satisfy other countries, particularly those whose
airlines fly directly to Fiji or from Fiji to their
country as first destination. Whatever our security
measures are will have to be acceptable for countries
like USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand or South
Korea as our flights fly straight from here to those
countries. These countries, at the same time, send
their security officers to check our security measures.
We have managed to maintain an acceptable level
but we continue making improvements and training
new recruits in security areas. We are also improving
our systems and equipment, bringing in the latest
technology. We are trying to look at what is happening
and make an assessment of what is the level that
we need to target. At the same time, we are getting
ready for the South Pacific Games. In fact, I prepared
a document last week to put together a plan so that
that we can provide the necessary security for the
South Pacific Games. In our current civil aviation
security legislation, the responsibility for airport
security has been passed on to the police and to
AFL. Recently, we decide to recruit twenty new security
officers and we have had the initial training done
by the New Zealand Aviation Security Company and
now we are arranging to have the second phase of
the training so that we can bring them up to a standard
that is more than acceptable. As far as equipment
is concerned, we would have to talk about the airport
development plan that we are now implementing. It
includes the installation of X-Ray machines so the
airlines that wish to have their baggage checked
may do so. We are also looking at new machines to
bring in so that we can work towards meeting the
requirements of the International Civil Aviation
Organisation (ICAO). A part of this requirement
is to ensure that each and every baggage that goes
through the counter to the aircraft goes through
X-Ray machines. We are also putting in place a plan
to include domestic flights under this security
measure.
Q3. What is the relation of AFL with international
organizations to help funding all these projects?
A3. At the moment we are talking to the Asian
Development Bank through the government. They are
going to carry out a study of the airport requirements,
particularly looking at the facilities we are providing
in our renovation plan. This study should start
sometime within the next month. At the end of that
we will make an evaluation in order to see how to
approach their report based on the master plan that
we have, this way we will be able to make any improvement
based on all that and then we will be able to look
at the funding possibilities of some of the projects
we have in mind particularly under phase II of the
master plan. In the meantime, all our funding requirements
are being met from loan facilities available on-shore.
Q4. Your vision has always been to set Fiji Airports
as the gateway to the South Pacific. In order
to achieve that, there are various things that
need to be done as to update the technology. What
can you tell us about the new air traffic management
centre you installed and other similar measures?
A4. Our vision is that Fiji becomes the hub
of the region in air transportation. In order to
be a major centre in the South Pacific we have been
improving our technology. The new Air Traffic Management
System is a method that uses satellite technology.
As you are probably aware, the world aviation is
moving from a ground based navigation system to
a satellite based navigation system and Fiji has
been very much involved in this technology from
the very beginning. In fact, we were the first country
in the world to approve the use of GPS for domestic
navigation purposes in 1994. This new system, the
new air traffic management centre, is made by THALES,
a French company based in Australia, and it gives
us the capability to manage and control aircraft
flying far beyond the area that we are currently
looking after. The capability of this new surveillance
system is giving us a potential that we did not
have here before and can cover traffic within airspace
as large as 7-10 million sq. km. This system is
used now in many countries like Australia, China,
Singapore, Tahiti, Fiji and others. There are other
projects that we are going to do this year like
the renovation of the Control Tower with updated
equipment using the latest technology. We are actually
constructing a new Control Tower at Nausori, the
airport in Suva, with new equipment and we will
make sure to link that Control Tower to the new
air traffic management system so that the technology
is compatible.
Q5. Last year AFL started a policy to gradually
lower the price of the Fuel to become one the
lowest in the region to attract more airline movement.
How has this increased aircraft into Fiji and
what other similar measures do you have in mind?
A5. We have had more aircraft movement into
here particularly immediately after we lowered the
price of the fuel. The number of freight carrying
flights went straight from two per week to five
per week. We have had certain military flights,
and also other type of flights, coming through to
pick up fuel. We also decided not to increase charges
to airlines hence we are maintaining the 1997 level
of charges. We have communicated with the International
Air Transport Association (IATA) to tell them about
all these measures and also to ask them for a meeting
this year in order for us to have our first discussion
with them as "Airport Fiji Ltd.". We have
not had any meeting with the IATA Charges Group
since the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji days.
We used to have annual meetings with the Group to
discuss charges and to agree to any changes proposed.
Since the formation of Airports Fiji Ltd. there
has not been any meeting with them. This year, because
of our development plan, we need funding and we
have done what is now a common practice in other
parts of the world, whereby we have asked the government
to introduce new fees based on the "user-pay"
principles, two of these are; a development fee,
for upgrading facilities, and a security fee, which
are now very common in the sector. What we are trying
to do at the moment is to make this place more attractive
to the airlines and make of Fiji an air transportation
hub in the area. In order to accomplish this we
have to be very careful with the rates we charge
so we have to balance our cost opportunity. We are
also very much aware of what is going on concerning
the threat that the War on Iraq represent for the
whole industry and how is it going to affect the
airlines so we have to be in a position to try and
assist the airlines and assist the industry in surviving
through these difficult times. All these issues
are being taken into account and now it is just
a matter of talking it over and establishing the
link with IATA.
Q6. Concerning the renovation process of the Nadi
International Airport. Why this renovation and in
what aspects will it improve the Nadi Airport?
A6. This place has not been upgraded for many
years so we needed to bring it up to international
standards. We needed to look at issues, which enhance
safety as this is a major issue for any Airport.
We are also upgrading the traffic management centre,
the Control Tower, etc. All these have to do with
safety issues. But we also had to look at how to
increase our revenue as we are also in charge of
the commercial activity of the Airport. The Nadi
Airport was designed many years ago and only for
passengers flow, it was not designed for commercial
activities and this is what we are changing. In
this development we are providing many extra square
meters of commercial floor space so that we can
get some income from these activities. These are
the approvals that I commented on before.
Q7. How satisfied are you with the current state
of the works?
A7. We are currently occupied with implementing
the first phase of the master plan, the upgrading
of the building and most of it will be completed
this year. The work is going very well. In fact,
I was there this morning before coming to the office
and I can assure you that we will be ready before
the South Pacific Games. After that we will move
into the pavement. We have to repair the damaged
apron area and also extend the main runway but this
will be a totally separate project and it has to
be tendered out. We are currently assessing the
tenders for a study of the dimension and the extension
of the work and this study should commence this
month. We are looking at starting the pavement work
this year because there is a big demand by Air Pacific
to lengthen the runway so that they can carry more
freight to destinations like Japan or USA. Concerning
the Nausori Airport, the airport in Suva, we are
making a final analysis on the tender documents
to renovate the present building because we were
looking at completing the work before the South
Pacific Games there as well but only to renovate
the present building. We were looking at the possibility
of expanding that building but there is a difficulty
in Nausori at the moment. It has been labelled "Black
Star" by the International Federation of Airline
Pilots Association (IFALPA) because the runway width
is not wide enough and the length is not long enough.
If we need to widen the runway then the present
terminal building becomes an obstruction so we will
need to remove it. Therefore, we do not want to
spend too much resources on the present terminal
building and having to remove it shortly after.
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Q8. Singapore Airport
Consortium is in charge of the works. Why were the
Singaporeans chosen and in what ways does their
participation add more credibility to the works
carried out?
A8. We actually hired them back in 1993 to come
and do a review of our master plan. This Singaporean
company is considered the best in the world when
it comes to airport consultancy and development
and they did a very good job at that time. As a
matter of fact, the previous government, ruled by
the Labour Party, continued to look to Singapore
for assistance on airport development. Then Prime
Minister, Mr. Mahendra Chaudhry, wrote to the Prime
Minister of Singapore in 1999 asking for assistance
in developing our Airports and Ports. By the time
that the Airport study was supposed to start the
coup of May 2000 happened so it did not eventuate
then. When I came back here I negotiated with the
Singaporeans and it continued on.
Q9. All these measures, lowering the price
of fuel, improving the technology, expanding the
airport is helping Airports Fiji to become the
gateway to the South Pacific but, What is your
Marketing strategy to make sure that people in
the global markets are aware of this?
A9. We are trying to reorganise our organization.
One of the areas we are lacking at the moment is
marketing. I am currently considering a marketing
arm so that we can market our Airports overseas.
In the meantime, we are trying to use our Internet
Website the best we can. But we are actually communicating
directly with the airlines. We met Qantas in Sydney
a month ago and we have written to IATA to explain
to them what we are doing. Now, we need to concentrate
our efforts on how to market our Airports abroad
hence the importance in participating in the promotional
efforts of Government through the Far Eastern Economic
Review magazine.
Q10. The land issue is one the things that
hold back foreign investors from coming into Fiji.
You have suffered this problem recently. What
would you tell to foreign investors concerning
this issue?
A10. When the assets were transferred from the
Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF) to this
company, all the assets were transferred across
except the land and CAAF housing. The Civil Aviation
Authority of Fiji still holds the lease on the land
at Nadi Airport. The lease on airport land at Nausori
and other domestic airports remains with the Ministry
for Lands and Mineral Resources. The difficulty
we are facing now is that because we are using the
land, any actions by land owners tend to affect
us more than the lessee. We cannot negotiate directly
with them because the land is not with us. Now we
are trying to have some of these sites transferred
to us so that we can go directly to the Native Land
Trust Board ourselves. We have had two meetings
with landowners of two beacon sites at Nadi Airport
and they are satisfied with the progress of negotiations.
We should settle these two sites shortly. My message
to international investors is this that, after the
completion of our master plans, we have received
a lot of interest from overseas companies on their
interests to be involved in the upgrading works
to follow. Our current terminal building contractor
is Neocorp of Singapore in joint venture with International
Shopfitting (Fiji) Ltd., a local company, is an
example. The Asian Development Bank is also interested
in providing funding for some of our projects. Currently,
they are tendering for a study to be carried out
to establish the funding needs and a lot of overseas
companies, from Australia and New Zealand as well,
have shown great interest.
Q11. The local press has not been very friendly
with AFL. Same thing happened to Fiji after the
events of May 2000 and Fiji now has a very negative
image amongst foreign investors. Fiji needs to
increase significantly FDI. What would be your
message to the international business community
about this?
A11. We are trying to create employment here.
In order to create employment we need investors
but one of the difficulties that this organization
faces is the past strong negative influence of one
particular Union. This Union is well known to support
more pay with less work. Several organisations have
started to be commercialised and we need to be looking
at how to be more productive and more profitable.
We have been asked to return to the government a
certain minimum percentage of return on our assets
every year. If we continue with the old conditions
of employment, I do not think that AFL will be able
to achieve this minimum return. On the other hand,
we want to give investors the opportunities to make
a profit for them and at the same time to create
employment in the country and development. Personally,
I believe that is what we are all looking for at
the moment. One of the reasons the media has not
been really friendly to us is because they just
do not appreciate the change that is necessary for
our survival. They are looking after their own interests
in most cases while we have to look after the interest
of this organisation and the country. That is really
one of the reasons why we decided to have this master
plan, so that we can plan ahead and help bring in
more foreign investment. At the same time, tourism
will be a major source of foreign exchange for many
years and we need to be able to cope with the increasing
volume of tourists arriving into Fiji. We have to
cope also with the requirements of the international
community on air transportation.
Q12. Year 2001 was not a good year in Fiji.
What can you tell us about your financial results
in 2002 and your expectations for 2003?
A12. The return we have to give to the Ministry
for Public Enterprises is between 10% and 15%. That
is the return we are required to give to the government
but at the moment we are operating well below that.
Our assets are around F$80 million so we are looking
at F$8 millions to F$12 millions. Our last financial
year ended up with a loss for many reasons. One
of the difficulties we now face is the non-contribution
from Government for the operations of Nausori and
Domestic airports as per the provisions of the Public
Enterprise Act. Their last contribution was for
the financial year 2001 of around $3 million. Others
are the take over by New Zealand of part of the
Nadi FIR and the non-introduction of airport development
and airport security fees. For this year 2003, with
our new commercial areas that we are creating, we
are looking at an increase of our income of about
33%. Last year we had revenue of around F$30 million
and this year we are looking at around F$40 million.
We are not expecting any contribution from the government
at all, what we have to do now is to concentrate
on increasing our revenue from non-aeronautical
sources to beyond 50% of our total revenue. This
will be achieved through the provision of more commercial
spaces in our future terminal building developments
and increase rentals due to improvements made to
the buildings. A lot can be done for Nausori Airport
to increase revenue. The new terminal building to
be built if the "Black Star" is to be
removed should provide for new commercial floor
space to increase revenue and reduce subsidy by
AFL from income earned at Nadi Airport. Nausori
has a lot of potential and opportunities and should
be taken advantaged of. The traffic growth is there
and will continue once improvements are made to
enhance safety and improve capacity. With growth
in visitor arrivals into Fiji, it is important that
every effort is made by all stakeholders to increase
the per passenger buying power at airports and raise
the present spending power from a low $2-$3 per
passenger to a higher figure.
Q13. Our readers like always to know more about
the person behind a company or an institution.
Mr. Koroitamana, could you tell us more about
your professional and personal background?
A13. I am fortunate because I have been working
here for a long time. I started as an air traffic
controller. I was trained in Australia and New Zealand
and then I worked my way up until I became the CEO
of the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji from 1982
to early 1998 when I had to retire. I then entered
politics when I joined the interim Government as
Minister for Civil Aviation, Tourism and Communications
for seven months. I came back as Chief Executive
Officer of AFL in 2001 to pick up from where I left
off in 1998. During the period of my return, AFL
has installed and commissioned the new Air Traffic
Management System using satellite technology and
will soon complete a major upgrading work of the
Nadi Airport terminal building. A limited upgrading
of the Nausori Airport terminal building will also
be completed by mid this year. A new Control Tower
and Fire Service buildings will be constructed at
Nausori Airport soon to be completed by next year.
A new surveillance system for aircraft operations
in domestic airspace is also being considered to
enhance safety. Planning for all these new satellite
systems started in CAAF when I was its Chief Executive
and also Chairman of the Asia Pacific Air Navigation
Planning and Implementation Group (APANPIRG) from
1992 to 1998, the group that was putting together
the regional plan for the implementation of the
satellite technology in the Asia/Pacific Regions.
Winne cannot be held responsible for unedited
transcription.
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MR
JONE KOROITAMANA