| Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 | ![]() |
Misleading itineraries/flight routes in the South Pacific 4th ed.Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea | ||
In the 4th Lonely Planet South Pacific it looks as you can fly between Tonga and The Cook Islands, has it ever been possible? Same between Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. If anyone knows a company that flies between Tonga and The Cook Islands or directly between Honiara and Luganville I would be grateful. Thanks! | ||
Definitely no flight between Tonga and the Cooks. Solomon Airlines started a Honiara-Luganville route maybe 2 years ago, but it seems they have dropped it. Those itineraries in the LP guides are often based on wild fantasy. | 1 | |
The Honiara-Santo flight was actually part of a triangle they were negotiating between Brisbane, Santo and Honiara, which would have been popular with divers. Also, the Church of Melanesia has its Vanuatu Headquarters in Luganville, so it would have been helpful for numerous church people travelling across to Honiara for meetings. (This happens more regualrly than many tourists would realise). | 2 | |
Nver been a direct connection from Tonga to the Cooks or vice versa. One used to be able to fly to Nadi Fiji, then get to Tonga from there, but the Cooks to Fiji flight stopped a few yrs ago. One has to go back to Auckland, and then up to Tonga. So to go 1100 miles, one has to go 3300 miles. | 3 | |
You can fly Brisbane-Santo with Air Vanuatu. Our itinerary looks like this: Brisbane-Honiara-Port Vila-Auckland-Rarotonga. (US$~1000) | 4 | |