American Samoa Congressman Faleomavega Eni Hunkin says that Samoa Air's proposal to lease a New Zealand aircraft to service the Manu'as while its aircraft is grounded is running into problems.
Because American Samoa is a US territory it cannot be domestically serviced by a foreign airline.
Faleomavega says that even though Samoa Air is a US company, it's proposal to use a foreign aircraft and crew makes its application somewhat complicated.
"This is a very unique proposal on the part of Samoa Air to bring in a foreign airline, a company that owns the aircraft and owns the pilots. And they're going to be making the service, and the problem here too is that the aircraft has to be certified so it meets all federal standards."
