1 in 10 Samoa Airways Staff Test Positive for Drugs and Alcohol

A chemist checks pills. Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Ten percent of the staff of Pacific carrier Samoa Airways have tested positive for drugs or alcohol, the airline has revealed. The business is wholly owned by the country’s government.

Recent drug testing conducted by the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa returned positive results for illegal and prescriptive substances, including a pilot who was found to be on a prescription sleeping pill. He had been stood down, retested with a negative result, and will be allowed to fly.

However, three other employees who had tested positive for illicit drugs have been suspended pending a board decision, the airline said in a statement on Feb. 17. Six people found with alcohol in their systems have also been issued warning letters and retested.

“This is a reflection of a broader societal issue that affects not just Samoa, but communities worldwide,” it said, emphasising that safety is a priority.

“Recent flight cancellations, while inconvenient, are a testament to our commitment to maintaining the highest safety standards,” it said.

“As the ground handler for major international carriers like Air New Zealand, Qantas, and Fiji Airways, Samoa Airways is acutely aware of the necessity to uphold a safe, drug-free environment.”

The drug and alcohol testing policy for all staff was only implemented in October 2024.

Flight Safety Record

Samoa Airways used to fly to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, and Wellington but these—along with a number of other international routes—were terminated.

It now operates just three de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter aircraft between Samoa and American Samoa, though it has an international codeshare arrangement with Fiji Airways.

According to planespotter.net, the aircraft are over 45-years-old, and one is currently grounded.

Despite these factors the airline has a good safety record, with the most recent serious incident occurring in 2012 when one of its aircraft almost collided with a Polynesian Airlines plane near Fagali'i, Samoa.

Both aircraft were on the same flight path. Civil Aviation issued a warning to Samoa Air for failing to follow standard operating procedures.

In 2020, the Salvation Army in Samoa claimed 90 percent of crime in the country was alcohol and drug-related, while in 2022 Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson said Samoa was suffering from a “pandemic” of alcohol abuse and said locals were brewing their own spirits “which [are] so strong that we believe it belongs in the category of ‘jet fuel.’”

Some of the alcohol level in local brews are as high as 40 percent by volume.