Samoa Airways prepares for NZ flights with plane from Iceland

The new airline will fly six times a week between Apia and Auckland from next Tuesday, stepping up to daily from December 17.

Samoa Airways is using a Boeing 737-800 leased from Icelandair Group with 170 seats, including eight in business class.

Last month the Samoan government refused an application by Virgin Australia to fly five times a week, affecting about 6000 passengers and causing concern in the travel industry about reduced competition on the route.

Virgin's twice-weekly return services from Sydney to Apia and weekly return service from Brisbane will go ahead as planned from November 13, but it has said it was surprised at the end of its 12-year-old deal with the Samoan government to fly to New Zealand.

Marketing and communication specialist for Samoa Airways, Dwayne Bentley, said he couldn't comment on the dispute with Virgin Australia.

“We're just making sure that we get off the ground on November 14 and looking after our customers to provide a safe travel environment,” he said.

Virgin Australia asked the Australian government to work with its Samoan counterpart to reconsider the decision to block its flights, and the airline had offered refunds or flights via Australia for those affected.

Bentley said his airline had picked up some passengers who had been refunded by Virgin.

He said Samoa Airways was a full service airline that offered economy class passengers a meal and 7kg of carry-on and 23kg of checked baggage.

It will be equipped with AirFi's portable wireless in-flight entertainment, allowing passengers with their own devices to watch movies.

Photo source Samoa Airways/Facebook