Five aircraft carrying leaders to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa later this month will be parked at Pago Pago International Airport until the end of the meeting.
CHOGM will be held October 21-26th.
Airport Manager Tavita Fuimaono says the countries whose aircraft will be using Tafuna are Britain, Pakistan, Australia, Singapore and the African state of Eswatini.
The aircraft will start arriving here October 20th.
The planes will drop off delegations at Faleolo International Airport in Samoa, then fly to Tafuna where they will remain until after CHOGM.
The crews will be staying at local hotels.
The largest aircraft will be an Airbus a340 belonging to the Eswatini delegation which is led by that country’s ambassador to the United States. There will also be an Airbus a321. The rest are private jets.
Fuimaono says the aircraft will be refueling here before they fly to Faleolo to pick up their delegations at the end of the CHOGM meeting.
The airport manager says they’ve also received inquiries from other countries attending the CHOGM meeting, and it’s possible that more aircraft will be using the local airport to park.
Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa said at the Atoa o Samoa meeting in April of last year, there would not be enough space at Faleolo International Airport to park aircraft bringing leaders to the CHOGM meeting and Samoa would request assistance from American Samoa for aircraft to park at Tafuna.
