Solomon Airlines has apologised publicly for inconvenience caused to it’s international passengers, due to the grounding of the airline’s Airbus A320 – the national carriers only international aircraft.

The aircraft has not been operational since last Thursday, due to a fuel contamination issue.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused, however safety is of the utmost importance in everything we do and the aircraft will remain grounded until the situation is resolved,” said Solomon Airlines CEO Gus Kraus.

“We are liaising with Airbus Industries to assist us in resolving the issue, which has already seen many man-hours applied by our engineers,“ he said.

“Unfortunately this will result in delays to our international operations this week.

“As we work on our own aircraft, we are urgently seeking available replacement aircraft to cover our schedules, however in the current environment there is limited, to no available short term capacity available.

“We are exploring all options including assessing suitable alternative operators, who are approved under our AOC and with scrutiny by CAASI to ensure all suitable alternative operators comply,” he said.

Solomon Airlines has today issued public advice regarding the Airbus grounding and is endeavouring to notify all affected passengers.

The airline asks any impacted passengers with urgent travel requirements, to contact Solomon Airlines

Solomon Airlines domestic operations are not affected by the grounding of the carrier’s international aircraft.