Down Under Islands 727

[thegetter]

Air Nauru

Boeing 727-77C
www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Nauru/Boeing-727-77C/1455892/L/

Boeing 727-95
www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Nauru/Boeing-727-95/0083114/L/


TheGetter

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

During the early to mid 1990´s I used to fly with AIR NAURU .... between AKL/IUE and TBU in the Pacific .... but .... on their B737-200 ADVC´s and B737-400´s rather than on their B727´s.

The Republic of Nauru is a small and very isolated island located roughly in the Central pacific region.

It lacks any tourism or other common Pacific Island holiday oriented draw cards.

The island became the source of opencast phosphate mining from the late 1970´s ....and this is what sustained the local economy as the island got very rich real quick .... and which is what really prompted the existence of AIR NAURU .... until its phosphate resources began to diminish during the early 1990´s.

The airline hardly ever flew a passenger though .... to the island of Nauru that is .... but .... it did get good loadings on the AKL/IUE run (simply because Niue Island, which was tourist oriented, needed a regular air service between itself and Auckland) and other central Pacific islands.

The airline, otherwise, really became nothing much more than a government air taxi and regional charter service .... but .... it did operate to Brisbane, Honiara, Tarawa, Nadi, as well as Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane and Norfolk Island .... and a lot of other places too on mostly government charters anyway.

A lot of AN´s pacific services were actually operated on behalf of other regional airlines.

AIR NAURU commenced INU/AKL via NAN during 1978 using B737-200 ADVC aircraft. By 1983 .... and in regard to maintenance concerns .... the NZCAA revoked their B737 operating certificate .... which resulted in AN services to AKL then being operated by B727-100 aircraft (which probably weren´t much better off for wear´n´tear) for a short time only. It was AIR NEW ZEALAND whom came to AIR NAURU´s maintenancve/engineering rescue thereafter .... with a small group of ANZ CAA approved engineers the beingn placed with the airline and located on Nauru to ensure AN complied with its basic engineering schedule whilst all heavy B737-200 ADVC work was contracted to ANZ.

Apart from a short period during the early 1980´s we never saw the AN B727-100´s much at AKL. The airlines B727´s serviced Australian ports primarily.

There were 2 variations of AN livery applied to these aircraft though .... as evidenced by "TheGEtter´s" research. The livery changes applied affected only the tail .... the first variation of which featured "AN" titles above the "ochre tail stripe" with the "star of Nauru" located below .... followed by the 2nd variation featuring the "ochre tail stripe" place further up the tail surface and an enlarged "star of Nauru" located below it in a configuration resembling that of the national flag if the island Republic of Nauru.

Quite an interesting carrier .... and .... quite an even more interesting carrier to fly with too .... to say the very least.

At first I was none-to-thrilled to have to fly with them .... but .... I did get to know some of their flight and cabin crews quite well .... and .... despite my original concerns I´m actually glad I had this rare opportunity.

Mark C
BOG/CO

[Deleted]

One thing I would like to point out: Nauru is world's richest country, even a lot lot lot lot more wealthy than any oil country.

And their airport shares runway with main highway of Nauru in similar manner you see in Gibraltar Island.

Aharon

Aharon

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

One thing I would like to point out: Nauru is world's richest country, even a lot lot lot lot more wealthy than any oil country.

I don´t know about Nauru´s wealth exceeding that of the worlds oil producers, but, such comment might have had "a dgree of credibility" up until the end of the 1980´s .... but .... I don´t believe one will find that to be the case/so relevent now days ....

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Nauru was a "rentier state". Nauru is a phosphate rock island, with deposits close to the surface, which allow for simple strip mining operations. This island was a major exporter of phosphate starting in 1907, when the Pacific Phosphate Company began mining there, through the formation of the British Phosphate Commission in 1919, and continuing after independence. This gave Nauru back full control of its minerals under the Nauru Phosphate Corporation, until the deposits ran out during the 1980s. For this reason, Nauru briefly boasted the highest per-capita income enjoyed by any sovereign state in the world during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

When the phosphate reserves were exhausted, and the environment had been seriously harmed by mining, the trust established to manage the island's wealth became greatly reduced in value. To earn income, the government resorted to unusual measures. In the 1990s, Nauru briefly became a tax haven and illegal money laundering centre. From 2001 to 2008, it accepted aid from the Australian government in exchange for housing a Nauru detention centre that held and processed those who had tried to enter Australia in an irregular manner.

From December 2005 to September 2006, Nauru became partially isolated from the outside world when Air Nauru, the only airline with service to the island, ceased to operate. The only outside access to Nauru was then by ocean-going ships. The airline was able to restart operations under the name Our Airline with monetary aid from the Republic of China. The island has one airport, Nauru International Airport

Clearly .... things have changed dramatically .... as is always inevitable in cases of wealth governed by "extractive" type industry !

Mark C
BOG/COL

[Deleted]

Guess I quoted from National Geographic issue published in 1980s that I read when I was kid!!! LOL Never knew that Nauru ran out of money!!

Aharon

[aerofoto - HJG Admin]

That´s essentially what happens when a small and isolated island nation, like Nauru, litterally "wastes it´s resources"

Mark C
BOG/COL