By James Wilkinson

Norfolk Air will suspend all of its Gold Coast flights and one weekly Melbourne flight to Norfolk Island from November 1 because of the global economic crisis.

Announcing the changes in a statement released on Sunday (October 12), Norfolk Air said its Wednesday service from Sydney would also be suspended from November 5 until February 25, 2009.

In announcing the decision, The Norfolk Island Minister for Finance, the Hon Neville Christian MLA, who is also responsible for the Airline, said the current economic circumstances, particularly with the events of the past few weeks, have eroded demand for seats on these flights and the airline is unable to continue their operations in the short term.

He said both the Norfolk Island Government and Norfolk Air regretted the inconvenience that the service suspensions would cause to customers already booked on these services. He has also assured that the Airline would work quickly to re-accommodate those customers on the remaining Norfolk Air services and would do its utmost to minimise disruptions.

The minister further indicated that the action being taken by the airline was prudent given the current circumstances, adding that he was confident that Norfolk Air would react quickly by re-establishing services as soon as it was evident that economic recovery was underway.