SOLOMON Airlines reportedly spent $2million on executive vehicles for selected members of its Management while thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports around the country over the busy Christmas-New Year period.

Three executive vehicles were bought – one each for the incoming Chief Executive Officer, the Finance Manager and an expatriate who is said to be on a three-month probation.

“The Airlines has taken delivery of the three vehicles.

“The first vehicle is the latest Toyota Prado four-wheel drive model. It’s been bought for the new CEO who is expected to arrive in Honiara this week,” the sources said.

“This vehicle can cost up to $700,000. It has everything in it. The other two vehicles are not too far behind in terms of costs.”

The sources said the vehicle purchase had angered other senior staff members, particularly in the operations section, which in the last two weeks was forced to cancel flights due to the number of aircraft being grounded for lack of spare parts.

Sources said the Airlines’ Dash 8 aircraft was down followed last Friday by its two Twin Otter aircraft, forcing flights to Auki and other parts of the country to be cancelled at the last minute.

Only two Islander aircraft – the smallest in the fleet – are flying, raising concerns about flight hours of pilots.

Management has reportedly informed staff that there were no funds to buy spare parts, some of which cost as little as $100,000.

“This is the irony of the situation – the Management and possibly the Board saw it fit to spend about $2 million on costly vehicles for selected executive members of the Management at the expense of the traveling public,” one source said.

In Auki, passengers waited for up to three hours last Friday afternoon only to be told their flight was cancelled.

The next morning they were told that the earliest for any flight to Auki is next Tuesday.

Many Honiara passengers who were booked on Solomon Airlines were told by its Auki Office to travel back to Honiara by boats.

The first attempted flight to Auki was yesterday (Sunday), but the Islander had engine problem on landing at Gwaunaruu airport, forcing the airlines to ground the aircraft there overnight.

Engineers are expected to travel to Auki today to fix the aircraft.

Meanwhile trade union members in the airlines are reportedly mobilising in preparation for the arrival of the new CEO.

“He (CEO) will get his first baptism of fire when he gets here,” sources said last night.