A Pacific itinerary from the mainland United States is the disinsection planner’s most interesting problem. The trip is rarely non-stop, and every country on it, Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, is likely to require the aircraft to have been treated. Here is how to think about it.
Every arrival counts
Australia and New Zealand require disinsection on every arriving international aircraft. The Cook Islands require it on every arriving flight, with a compliant certificate presented when the doors open. So a trip that touches two or three of them has two or three arrivals to plan for, each of which needs its own treatment and certificate.
Where the treatment belongs
Pre-embarkation treatment is performed at the last port before the destination country. For the first international arrival on a Pacific trip from the mainland US, that last port is usually Honolulu, because most business jets stop there. That makes Honolulu the natural place for the pre-embarkation treatment, and it is a field we come to. If your aircraft flies the mainland to Australia or New Zealand non-stop, the treatment belongs at your mainland departure airport instead.
Onward legs between Pacific countries need their own consideration and will not be performed by us in the US. We tell you that plainly when we see the itinerary.
Australia and New Zealand: start early
Both countries require the aircraft operator to hold an approval arrangement, a DAFF Approved Arrangement or an MPI Compliance Agreement, before an overseas pre-embarkation treatment counts, and both use their own certificate template and pre-arrival reporting. Setting that up takes time. If either is on the itinerary, contact us as soon as the trip is likely and we will walk you through it and help put it in place.
The islands
The Cook Islands, Fiji and the Solomon Islands are usually legs on a wider itinerary rather than destinations flown to directly from the US. The Cook Islands require disinsection on every arriving flight, evidenced by a compliant certificate at the door; Fiji accepts an aerosol applied while passengers are not on board; and the Solomon Islands expect a certificate of disinsection presented to Quarantine on landing, with the holds sprayed before departure from the United States. All three are best planned alongside the Australia and New Zealand legs so that the whole trip is covered. French Polynesia, by contrast, treats every arriving aircraft itself on arrival at Tahiti, and a departure treatment does not replace that.
What to send us
The full routing, every leg, with dates and the aircraft type. From that we can tell you which arrivals require treatment, where the pre-embarkation treatment we perform belongs, what paperwork needs to start now, and what the onward legs will need. The earlier the better; a Pacific trip planned early is a Pacific trip that simply works.