SOLOMON Airlines is believed to be considering selling off some of its premium properties in Honiara due to its worsening cash flow problem, sources have confirmed.

Two buildings that could come under the hammer sooner rather than later are the Airlines’ inner-city former head office at Point Cruz, which is being leased by Bmobile telephone network, the sources said.

The other property is along the Tandai Highway in West Honiara.

Although Solomon Airlines Board Chairman, Austin Holmes, told a recent business gathering that the worse might be over for the Airline, it was still struggling in paying spare parts for aircraft in its domestic fleet.

“We were in intensive care unit. We could have died then,” adding that with support by the government and traveling public, the Airline was able “to overcome the hurdle last year.”

Despite the assurance that the worst may be over, non-payment of spare parts for the Airlines’ domestic fleet forced staff to cancel many flights, leaving a huge backlog of passengers over the busy Christmas/New Year break.

Solomon Airlines had to lease an additional Twin Otter to its fleet of three to help clear the backlog. It is understood that one of the three Twin Otters was grounded at Gizo yesterday because pilots have used up their hours.

It was not clear as of last night how long the aircraft would be on the ground.

Meanwhile the arrival of the much-talked about engine for the Airlines’ Dash 8 aircraft is being further delayed and is now expected to arrive in Brisbane over the weekend.

This was after the national carrier, struggling to pay its creditors, managed to scrap together a partial lease payment for the engine.

The engine was to have arrived in Brisbane midweek, but this was now not possible as the company which owns the engine insists that a down payment on the lease must be paid before the engine is released.

“The engine is now expected to arrive in Brisbane from America on Friday,” someone familiar with the arrangement said yesterday.

“The engine could not be released earlier due to the non-payment of the lease. Solomon Airlines managed to put a deposit, which is not the full amount, but the company in the United States is very accommodating,” the individual said.

Getting the engine to Brisbane appears to be just part of a raft of problems Solomon Airlines faces in getting the engine to Honiara.

Now it has to find a cargo freighter which would airlift the engine as the national carrier’s own A320 Airbus is not able to uplift the engine. This means that Solomon Airlines would have to wait until a cargo flight from Brisbane is available.

This could take another week or more.

The Dash 8 aircraft is the main workhorse of the domestic fleet. It had been on the ground for the last three weeks.