Saab 340 landing incident triggers investigation

An investigation is underway after an overloaded Saab 340B wet-leased to Lulutai Airlines “experienced difficulty” while landing at Vava’u Airport (VAV) last week.

According to a report in Tonga’s Kaniva News, which cites “a reliable source,” an airport worker loaded additional undocumented baggage onto the aircraft at Tongatapu (TBU), which the flight crew was unaware of.

After landing, the pilot ordered the aircraft to be reweighed, revealing a “significant discrepancy” and sparking an investigation. The report did not say what event or events occurred during the landing. However, Aero South Pacific understands a preliminary report will be released as soon as next week.

Air Chathams presently has two Saab 340s at Lulutai Airlines. The first, ZK-KRA (msn 340A-065), has been in Tonga since August 10, 2026, and regularly flies between Tongatapu and Vava’u.

The second, ZK-CIY, arrived on August 26 and is set to operate the same route. At the time of publication, both aircraft remain in Tonga, although ZK-CIY has not operated since August 28.

Unclear whether landing damaged aircraft

It is unclear which aircraft was involved in the incident and whether it sustained any damage during the landing. However, Air Chathams has an established history of either wet-leasing or damp-leasing aircraft to Lulutai Airlines, which has been without its own Saab 340 since it was involved in a runway excursion in late 2023 and never returned to service.

There is no suggestion that any Air Chathams employees onboard the flight were aware of the discrepancy between the actual baggage weight and the reported baggage weight.

Neither Tonga's Civil Aviation Office nor Lulutai Airlines responded to a request for comment. Air Chathams declined to comment, citing non-disclosure terms in its ACMI agreement.

However, Air Chathams CEO Duane Emeny confirmed to Kaniva News that an investigation was underway.

“There is an active investigation underway. We will not comment until that investigation is complete,” he said.

Source: Aero South Pacific 

- I see on FlightRadar that ZK-CIY is still in Vava’u and has not returned to Tongatapu. 

Article notes that the aircraft is a Saab 340B. However both ZK-CIY and ZK-KRA are both 340A models.

This leaves ZK-CIT and ZK-CIZ in New Zealand operating Air Chathams scheduled flights to Whakatane and Whanganui. I did get notification today that Air Chathams has rescheduled its once daily AKL-WHKs to now be operated in the middle of the day, instead of the now usual mix of am and pm departures. 

- LF