South Pacific Island Airways (SPIA) was an airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 operating services in and around American Samoa from the early 1970s. The Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 (FAA) grounded the carrier in 1984, when it almost flew a charter flight into the airspace

Airspace

Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere....

 of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. SPIA was allowed to continue operations after some management changes were made at the airline, but was grounded again in 1985 for some shady dealings involving hush kit

Hush kit

A hush kit is a device for reducing noise from an engine; most commonly the term refers to devices which reduce noise emissions from low-bypass turbofan engines, as fitted to older commercial aircraft ....

s on its 707s. South Pacific continued to operate limited services until it ceased operations in 1987.

Fleet

As its peak South Pacific Island Airways fleet included:

South Pacific Island Airways

Type	Number
Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander Britten-Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a 1960s British light utility aircraft, regional airliner and cargo aircraft designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. The Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in...	1
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian 19-passenger STOL utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada and currently produced by Viking Air. The aircraft's fixed tricycle undercarriage, STOL abilities and high rate of climb have made it a successful cargo, regional passenger airliner and MEDEVAC...	3
Boeing 707 Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...	4