SUVA, Fiji (Oceania Flash, April 30) - A group of disgruntled
users and traditional land owners on Tuesday blockaded a second airstrip in New
Caledonia's Loyalty Islands group, RFO's Télé-Nouvelle-Calédonie reports.
The move is again motivated by a proposed increase in domestic
airline Air Calédonie (AirCal) ticket prices.
The company says the increase, about US$2 per ticket, is
necessary to keep up with increased costs.
For the past ten days, the small airstrip in Maré Island, La
Roche, has been paralyzed by picketing.
On Tuesday, on neighboring Lifou Island, the airstrip of Wanaham
was also blockaded.
Lifou is the Loyalties' largest island and it generates some 47
percent of AirCal passenger and cargo traffic.
AirCal's ATR-42 plane, once it landed early in the morning, was
forced to stay by a group of locals, including high chiefs, who sat on the
tarmac.
They said it already...