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?
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.


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?

We are building up our security to be able to satisfy other countries, particularly those whose airlines fly directly to Fiji or from Fiji here 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.


What is the relation of AFL with international organizations to help funding all these projects?

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.


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?

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 7-10m. 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.


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?

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.


Concerning the renovation process of the Nadi International Airport. Why this renovation and in what aspects will it improve the Nadi Airport?

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.

How satisfied are you with the current state of the works?

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.


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?

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.


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?

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.


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?

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.


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?

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.