New Caledonia’s Air Oceania Launches With a Tecnam Traveller

New Caledonia's Air Loyauté has resumed flying to the Loyalty Islands with a new aircraft and a corporate makeover, rebranding as Air Oceania.

The new aircraft, a nine-passenger Tecnam P2012 Traveller, was unveiled on Tiga Island (also called Tokanod) on May 19, 2025. Among other outcomes, flights between Tiga and Nouméa, some 200 kilometres southwest, will resume. The aircraft can also be used to carry cargo and, when necessary, for aeromedical purposes.

The Loyalty Islands Provincial Government supported Air Oceania’s launch, as did SODIL (Société d'Investissement et de Développement de l'Île), a local public/private investment company.

The government says the new aircraft will help open up the island, facilitate travel for health, education or supply reasons, and re-establish links with the archipelago's other islands.

Provisional timetables indicate that aside from flights to New Caledonia's capital, Air Oceania will also run scheduled inter-island services linking Tiga with Maré and Lifou.

Air Oceania hopes to build up the three Tecnam Travellers. At a bare minimum, two will allow it to maintain services while one goes out for scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. Out-of-service Twin Otters bedevilled Air Loyauté, causing significant reliability problems and eventually forcing it to suspend flights altogether.

The humble restart is a far cry from Air Oceania's earlier plans, which involved Airbus A220 regional jets flying to neighbouring countries such as Vanuatu, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. However, those plans never got off the drawing board.

Photo: Air Oceania