Tax increase for passengers leaving Western Samoa

By Andrew Curran.

The Samoa Airport Authority (SAA), operator of Faleolo (APW), Fagali’i (FGI), Maota (MXS), and Asau (AAU) Airports, plans to impose a WST180 (USD67) tax on all passengers departing Western Samoa on tickets purchased on or after March 1, 2026 – a substantial jump on the current WST65 (USD24) departure tax currently in place.

The new levy includes an increase in the current departure tax to WST80 (USD30) and a new aerodrome facility charge of WST100 (USD37). Passengers under 12 years of age will not have to pay the departure tax.

The SAA hasn’t publicised the cost increase but has quietly told airlines operating to its airports to automatically add the cost to new bookings. This sparked a response from the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA).

"Air travel is a social and economic catalyst, particularly for island states such as Samoa,” its statement on the matter reads. “The fee increases not only make it more expensive for tourists visiting Samoa but also adds to the travel cost burden of Samoan nationals, and the Samoan diaspora.”

Big spend upgrading a poorly serviced airport

According to Aero South Pacific’s Western Samoa Country Brief, only four foreign carriers fly to Western Samoa – Air New Zealand, Fiji Airways, Qantas, and Virgin Australia. Air New Zealand has the biggest market share. Local carriers, Samoa Airways and Talofa Airways, link Apia with Pago Pago (PPG) in neighbouring American Samoa. Currently, there are no scheduled domestic passenger flights within Western Samoa.

Over the past ten years, the Western Samoa Government has spent around WST175 million (USD65 million) upgrading the country’s gateway Faleolo Airport. This includes spending almost WST150 million (USD56 million) in the latter half of last decade to upgrade the airport’s international zone to allow it to handle bigger aircraft.

More recently, the airport spent WST25 million (USD9 million) to build a separate regional terminal that handles smaller aircraft. The build took place ahead of the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and was done to ease congestion in the main terminal.

The cost of Faleolo’s upgrade is a major expense for a small nation like Western Samoa. Faleolo Airport handled 243,191 departing passengers in calendar 2025, according to the Samoa Bureau of Statistics. Another 14,202 people departed the country by ship.

The airport’s running costs, as well as its upgrade costs, are therefore borne by a relatively small number of outgoing passengers, resulting in a high per person cost.

Mixed reaction to the airport cost increase

Reaction in Western Samoa to the levy increase has been mixed. Some welcome the user pays principle. Others say local residents and who rely on air travel will be hit disproportionately hard while more affluent tourists can wear the cost, even if they don’t like it. While tourists make up Western Samoa’s biggest visitor cohort (46.1%) in 2025, the second biggest group (37.9%) were visiting friends and family.

IATA Asia-Pacific Regional Vice President Sheldon Hee notes this, saying that for many in the Asia Pacific region, aviation isn’t a luxury but a necessity.

“A large number of the countries in the region consist of islands or archipelagos, and airlines represent a lifeline,” he said.

As recently reported in Aero South Pacific, Western Samoa Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt is keen to launch a homegrown international airline to service regional routes such as Fiji, Tonga, Tahiti and the Cook Islands. He has held recent meetings with the Tongan prime minister discussing, among other things, direct air services between the two countries.

Critics of the levy increase say it will deter tourists and airlines from Western Samoa. Instead, they say the SAA should focus on internal efficiencies to cut costs and help make Western Samoa an appealing destination for travellers and airlines, with the resulting increased traffic generating more revenue, better allowing the SAA to meet its costs and service debts.

Photo: Samoa Airport Authority.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com