Air Rarotonga is looking to capitalise on the available airline underwrite subsidy that was previously used for Air New Zealand flights coming out of Los Angeles and Sydney.

Managing director of Air Rarotonga, Ewan Smith said the airline was in negotiations regarding the subsidy for initial operating and marketing support.

Government last month confirmed Air New Zealand will not be able to provide Los Angeles (LA) flights and Tahiti will become the country’s new pathway to the northern hemisphere markets.

Prime Minister Mark Brown then said it meant the Air New Zealand underwrite that subsidised flights from LA could be used for other avenues, like supporting an air service out of Tahiti. Brown also said the underwrite out of Sydney could go towards another airline and discussions were taking place with a range of airlines.

After months of negotiation, an agreement supporting Air Rarotonga and Air Tahiti Nui forming air links between Rarotonga, Papeete, North America, Europe and parts of Asia was signed by the leaders of Tahiti and the Cook Islands over a week ago.

Initially one flight a week is planned and more will be added with demand and fares are still being finalised, says Smith.

He said the airline was still working out the formalities for the scheduled flights and was not yet able to give a start date for the flights.

However, Air Rarotonga is aiming to start flying the route in August.

Smith said the airline had enough staff and planes to make the flights.

He said there was some local demand as well.

“Building traffic across the Rarotonga-Papeete sector will depend on good connections to and from the US West Coast along with the ability to book through flights and fares,” Smith said.

“The goal is to have interline ticketing with Air Tahiti Nui so their agents can see flights and fares over to the Cook Islands.”

Smith said nothing was as good as a non-stop flight from the USA for tapping into the Northern Hemisphere market but building “hub traffic” over Tahiti was an alternative to develop.