The former prime minister and veteran politician, Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi has claimed Fagalii Airport is "too short and dangerous" and not suitable for small planes. 

However, the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure on Monday refuted the claims in a four-page statement to this newspaper and declared that the airport is operationally safe. 

Expressing his views in a letter-to-the-editor contribution to the Samoa Observer last Thursday, the suspended Lepa M.P. questioned the safety of the recently commissioned airport and even claimed an "engineering report on the closure of Fagalii" during his time as prime minister was in the files of the Cabinet.

"It was closed a few years ago following technical reports that the airport was too short, dangerous and unsuitable for the more modern small planes with greater speed capacity," the veteran politician said. "Even our small airport at Maota in Savaii is longer!

"The engineering report on the closure of Fagalii are in Cabinet Files. Hon Fiamē is aware of these challenges as she was my deputy at the time. 

"Minister Olo Fiti Va’ai also knows of these adverse reports being the Minister responsible for the Fagalii project. Many near-fatal accidents had occurred before the closure decision was made."

However, the Minister, in a statement issued to this newspaper after 5 pm Monday, refuted the claims by Tuilaepa and said Fagalii Airport has met all safety requirements and is ready for operation.

“We would like to assure the public that the airport is safe to operate as usual,” he said. “Prior to its reopening, the MWTI [Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure] and Samoa Airport Authority (SAA) worked hand in hand in the first phase of rehabilitation to ensure we have implemented all the necessary safety measures and they will continue to do so to ensure the aerodrome achieves the highest standard of safety for both airlines and the people who will be coming through Fagalii.”

Olo added that the concerns highlighted by the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) leader include "very tall trees, families with modern homes, tall breadfruit trees and other tall communications structures also existed during their time in power, and yet Fagalii aerodrome still operated."

Describing the veteran politician's claims as "ironic", the Minister said: "He [Tuilaepa] is oblivious to the decisions made during his tenure as prime minister, which clearly clarified that the closure of Fagali’i Airport was made based on the financial interest of the former Government. 

"The interest of the travelling public was not a consideration. And foremost, the safety of residents in the vicinity was never an issue."

Tuilaepa, in his letter to the newspaper, claimed that the aerodrome cannot be further extended in line with the requirements for a safe landing due to the geographic terrain of the Fagalii area. 

"There is a deep valley, a flowing river and very tall trees at the eastern end of the runway while at the western end, there are families with modern homes, tall breadfruit trees and other tall communications structures."

However, Olo outlined the various times in the airport's history when it was closed for various reasons. These included the airport not being commercially viable (1970–2005) and a 10-year period (2009–2019) when Polynesian Airlines reopened the airport to give itself a "competitive edge" over two domestic rival airlines as well as an irreconcilable dispute between SAA and Samoa Airways over the ownership of the airport that resulted in the Cabinet shutting all operations in January 2020. 

The Minister also said "there is no record of such a report" – in reference to an engineering report on the airport which Tuilaepa said formed the basis of his Cabinet's decision back then to close Fagalii. 

• To read the full letter from the Lepa MP and the response of the Minister of Works, Transport and Infrastructure click on this link