Hydraulics complications occurred mid-flight, before the Lulutai Airlines Saab 340B lost control while taxiing, after landing at Fua'amotu with a full load of passengers in December last year. Hydraulic fuel loss and other safety problems with the aircraft are detailed by aviation safety investigators in a preliminary report published in April.
Travellers to and from the outer islands are relying heavily on the inter-island ferries MV ‘Otuanga’ofa and MV Taka-i-Pomana this holiday season, to travel between Tongatapu, Vava'u, and Ha'apai, after a disruption to the domestic air services on 8 December, when the Lulutai Airlines Saab 340 aircraft was damaged while taxing after landing at Fua'amotu Airport.
The Lulutai Airline's Saab 340 aircraft slid off the taxi-way at the Fua'amotu Domestic Airport with a full load passengers, early this afternoon, hitting a low concrete wall, after it aborted landing at the Lupepau’u Airport in Vava’u. Early reports say there were no injuries, but passengers were screaming after a landing gear collapsed. One man was carried off the plane by