Airports Fiji Limited has confirmed its contractors, Supersealing from Australia, will be returning this evening for inspection and remedial works to the Nausori International Airport runway.

Airports Fiji executive chairman, Faiz Khan, said this was confirmed by their consultant, Beca from New Zealand.

“Over the past few days, Beca has also taken a number of sealant samples for testing purposes to help identify the cause of the problem,” he said.

AFL had engaged the specialist contractor to carry out crack sealing works with the objective of extending the life of the Nausori runway by two years.

But problems with application of the sealant by AFL’s specialist contractor led to the runway being declared unsuitable for Fiji Airways Boeing 737 operations.

Recent expert inspections by consultants engaged by Fiji Airways recommend further remedial works to the runway surface.

Mr Khan said they anticipate they should be in a position by mid next week to advise when B737 operations will resume from Nausori.

Until the recommended remedial works are carried and the runway meets Fiji Airways’ safety requirements, the airline will continue to transfer ticketed customers to/from Suva via Nadi to Sydney and Auckland.

Meanwhile normal operations are continuing out of Nausori for the ATRs and smaller flights.

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