Samoa

Virgin Australia is resuming flights to Samoa today, with up to two flights a week between Sydney-Apia and Brisbane-Apia.

Velocity membership and Points earn is subject to the Velocity membership Terms and Conditions, as amended from time to time. To earn and redeem Velocity Points you must be a Velocity Frequent Flyer member. $549 price point based on a return Economy Lite fare and $629 price point based on a return Economy Choice fare from Brisbane or Sydney to Apia booked at virginaustralia.com Subject to availability. You should allow up to 4 weeks after the travel period for the bonus Velocity Points to be allocated. Travel periods range from the 2nd of May 2023 to 6th of December 2023 and conditions apply. Bonus Points are earned in addition to the standard Points earn for a flight. A flight booking with a connection would be considered a one-way journey and 2,000 bonus Points would be allocated for this flight. Any Virgin Australia flight which is combined in the same booking as a Partner Airline operated flight will not be eligible for this promotion. 3To be eligible for the Bonus Points promotion you must (1) Activate this offer through the activation link; (2) book an Eligible Flight between 12.01am AEST 10 March 2023 and 11.59pm AEST 22 March 2023 inclusive (Promotion Period); (3) enter a valid Velocity membership number at the time of booking and ticketing and (4) travel by 3 February 2024. An Eligible Flight is any Trans-Tasman or International short-haul flight marketed and operated by Virgin Australia, which are flights on which Points can be earned and booked and ticketed in a fare class that normally accrues Points. 1 Fares are on sale from 12.01am Tuesday 21 March 2023 to 11.59pm Thursday 23 March 2023 AEST, unless sold out prior. Flights from both Brisbane and Sydney will initially depart in the evening, and from 28 March the Sydney flight will move to a daytime departure.

Samoa's harbourside capital of Apia is once again on the departures board for Virgin Australia, as the airline's twice-weekly flight from Sydney returns to ...

Brisbane, on the other hand, sees a red-eye service to Apia every Thursday and Sunday. Flights to Vanuatu also fire up this month. Click here to apply.

Guests on board the Sydney-Apia service will receive a warm welcome home from the all-Samoan cabin crew and First Officer, and will be treated to a traditional ...

Flights from both cities will initially depart in the evening, and from 28 March the Sydney flight will move to a daytime departure. [Australia](https://nnn.ng/tag/australia/)‘s first flight to [Samoa](https://nnn.ng/tag/samoa/) in three years will be operated by a proud Samoan crew. [](https://nnn.ng/#:~:text=fiverr blogger outreach) The return of Virgin Australia flights to Samoa is welcome news for both travellers and Samoa’s visitor economy. New short-haul international services will see Virgin Australia grow its international capacity by 50% by mid-2024. Guests on board the Sydney-Apia service will receive a warm welcome home from the all-Samoan cabin crew and First Officer, and will be treated to a traditional song during the flight and cultural welcome upon landing in Apia.

Samoa's prime minister is urging Australia to raise the plight Pacific island nations face on the global stage....

"Given that we occupy a very large space of one of those oceans, one might have thought that having some input from the Pacific islands might have been a good idea." Ms Mata'afa said countries in the region needed to be consulted on issues that affected them, taking aim at the way larger nations had morphed the geography of the Indian and Pacific oceans into a new area of strategic competition. "Also helping refine the message, taking the message to other forums that the Pacific doesn't necessarily have a voice at."

Pacific foreign policy means leveraging geographic advantage and respecting regional leaders' integrity, the Samoan PM says.

Geostrategic competition in the Blue Pacific Continent also exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in the Pacific, Mata’afa said. Mata’afa said collective combined agendas and actions could empower the region to better protect and promote peace and sustainability in the Pacific Ocean. And it gives renewed impetus to deepening Pacific regionalism,” Mata’afa said. For the Pacific region, and its island countries, the ocean is crucial,” Mata’afa said. “It is against this background, that we have made all efforts to reconnect our Pacific family, including strengthening our regional institutions. This understanding should form the basis of an integrated and comprehensive security architecture that expanded the traditional concept of security, she noted. We need a platform for processes that are people-centred and sustainable, she says. Among those in the audience was “Development actors [must] seek to engage with us in a way that supports our agency and leadership on sustainable development. “Pacific Island leaders have nonetheless recognised the need for a new, inclusive and game-changing approach to Pacific regionalism or regionalism that can not only realise the unmet development needs of Pacific Island peoples, but also meet the demands of a new global development paradigm.” “The blue Pacific narrative will strengthen the existing policy frameworks that harness the ocean as a driver of a transformative socio-cultural, political and economic development of the Pacific. “I feel I need to be very frank – in the Pacific, we feel our partners have fallen short of acknowledging the integrity of Pacific leadership, and the responsibility they carry for every decision made as a collective, and individually, in order to garner support for the sustainable development of our nations,” the PM said.

The Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, welcomed the Honourable Fiamē Naomi Mata'afa, Prime Minister of the Independent.

The Prime Ministers warmly welcomed the closer cooperation the Partnership Arrangement will engender across the pillars of climate and disaster resilience, security cooperation, economic growth, human and socio-economic development and people-to-people linkages. The Prime Ministers acknowledged the urgent need to accelerate international action to address the existential threat of climate change. Their discussions reinforced their commitment to work together to advance real and significant climate action and drive the transition to net-zero, welcoming Australia’s commitment to place Pacific voices at the centre of international climate discussions. Prime Minister Albanese recognised Prime Minister Fiamē’s regional leadership and expressed his appreciation for her significant contribution to Pacific unity. Amidst an increasingly complex regional outlook, the Prime Ministers acknowledged the centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum in driving collective responses to shared regional challenges such as climate change, economic recovery from COVID-19 and regional security. The Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, welcomed the Honourable Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa, Prime Minister of the Independent State of Samoa to Canberra on 22 March 2023.

The Samoan prime minister has called for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and an increase in finance for climate resilience projects..

She also floated the idea of a European-style free movement across Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations. Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Ms Fiamē’s visit and speech calling for more action on climate change underpinned the need for global co-operation to tackle the issue. She has put climate change action and the need for more regional consultation on the agenda.