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Solomon Airlines criticises Qantas’s application for more capacity to Honiara
February 9th 2026
Solomon Airlines has described Qantas Airways’s application to add a fifth weekly service between Brisbane and Honiara as a "cynical attempt to dump capacity on a struggling route" in order to ultimately reduce competition by driving out the only other airline flying between Australia and the Solomon Islands. Read More » Last month, Qantas applied to Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) seeking to increase its service on the Brisbane-Honiara route. The Australian carrier currently flies four times a week on the route with E190 aircraft operated by Alliance Airlines on its behalf via a wet lease arrangement. Solomon Airlines has called on the IASC, which manages Australia’s traffic rights, to reject the application, noting passenger traffic numbers remain below pre-COVID-19 levels and have declined from 52,071 per year in 2019 to 39,722 in 2025. "There is no increase in schedule choice for travellers with both carriers operating the same days and in general the same timings," Solomon Airlines said in its submission. "Qantas would suggest the addition of a fifth service would offer this choice but given both carriers are operating in a stagnant and declining market, the additional service will not grow the market but simply cannibalise existing services." Qantas ended its codeshare arrangement with Solomon Airlines in 2023, when it commenced flying to Honiara.
