Fiji Airways informations and photos

Fiji Airways (trading as and formerly known as Air Pacific) is the flag carrier airline of Fiji and operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 13 countries and 23 cities including, Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands (Oceania), Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the United States. It has an extended network of 108 international destinations through its codeshare partners. The Fiji Airways Group brings in 64 percent of all visitors who fly to Fiji, employs over 1000 employees, and earns revenues of over FJD$815 million (US$390m).

The first commercial flight as Fiji Airways was made in 1951 but the airline's origins date back to Katafaga Estates Ltd. formed in 1947. After being acquired by Qantas in 1958, Katafaga Estates was retooled as a regional airline and renamed Air Pacific. In May 2012, MD/CEO David Pflieger announced that as the final part of the airline's successful turnaround, the airline would be returning to its former name of Fiji Airways to reinforce its role as the national airline of Fiji. The Fiji government owns 52% of the airline and Qantas 46%, with the governments of several Pacific island nations holding the remainder.

The airline plans to replace five of its older Boeing 737s with Boeing's newest 737 MAX 8s upon delivery in late 2018, at a list price of about US$110 million each. Two of the new Boeings have arrived in 2018, and the remainder in 2019, with the leasing of two Airbus A350-900 planes. The planes are intended for Fiji Airways' regional services to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The airline was founded by Australian aviator Harold Gatty who in 1931 had been the navigator on a record-breaking round-the-world flight with Wiley Post. Gatty moved to Fiji after World War II and registered the airline in 1947 as Katafaga Estates Ltd., after the coconut estate Gatty had established on Fiji's eastern island group. Gatty renamed the airline as Fiji Airways in September 1951. The New Zealander Fred Ladd was Fiji Airways' first Chief Pilot.

After Gatty's death in 1958, Fiji Airways was acquired by Qantas. Initially, Qantas tried to create international support for a multinational, shared, regional airline. By 1966 Fiji Airways's shareholders included the governments of Tonga, Western Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. By 1968, Qantas, Air New Zealand, British Overseas Airways Corporation and the Fiji government held equal shareholdings.

After Fiji gained independence from Great Britain in 1970, the new national government began buying shares and the airline was renamed Air Pacific to reflect its regional presence.

By the early 1970s, seven Pacific island governments, some still under British rule at the time, held shares in Air Pacific, in addition to shares held by Qantas, Air New Zealand and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. However, the regional airline idea lost support as some of the shareholding Pacific island governments sold their shares and created their own national airlines.

In the 1970s, tourism became the nation's leading industry, which made the airline even more important to the Fijian economy; and the government of Fiji acquired a controlling interest in Air Pacific in 1974. In 1981, The New York Times published an article that included details on the Fiji government's plan to buy out more shareholders in order to gain more control of Air Pacific as the national airline. However, the airline received no subsidies from the government and had to buy its own aircraft.

In the 1990s the airline relocated its headquarters from the capital city of Suva to the coastal town of Nadi where the main international airport is located. The company also constructed an elaborate aircraft maintenance centre there.

In 2007, Air Pacific acquired Sun Air, a domestic airline, renamed it Pacific Sun and began operations as Air Pacific's domestic and regional subsidiary. In May 2012, Managing Director & CEO Dave Pflieger announced that the airline, which was completing a successful turnaround that included restructuring and re-fleeting, would be re-branded as "Fiji Airways" to help enhance sales and marketing of the airline and the south pacific island nation. In June 2014, Pacific Sun was rebranded to Fiji Link.

Fiji Airways' first flight was on 1 September 1951, when a seven-seater de Havilland Dragon Rapide biplane departed Suva's Nausori Airport for Drasa Airport near Lautoka, on the west coast of the main island. The airline's first international flight to Brisbane, Australia was on 1 June 1973.

In 1983 it started flights to the US with a route to Honolulu called "Project America."

In December 2009, Air Pacific commenced a twice-weekly service to Hong Kong, which was increased to three services in January 2014. In July 2010 Air Pacific announced a new Suva-Auckland service.

Today, the airline and its domestic/regional subsidiary, Fiji Link, operate over 400 flights a week to almost 15 cities in 10 countries around the world.

In the beginning, Fiji Airways used small de Havilland Dragon Rapide and de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover aircraft. The fleet grew to include two ATR 42 turboprops and two leased jets, a Boeing 747 and a Boeing 767. By the late 1990s, the fleet included both Boeing 737 and 767 jets, while the ATR 42 turboprops were used on flights to neighboring islands.

The 2000 Fijian coup d'état devastated the country's tourism industry and overall economy, which led to a substantial decrease in travel to Fiji. Faced with a falloff in air traffic, Air Pacific returned one of its two leased Boeing 747s.

In 2003, Air Pacific received the first of two Boeing 747-400s it was leasing from Singapore Airlines (They had previously been leased with Ansett Australia until Ansett's downfall in 2001).

In April 2011, Air Pacific announced that it had cancelled its order of eight Boeing 787-9s due to delivery delays of almost four years by Boeing. In October 2011, Air Pacific announced that it had ordered three Airbus A330-200s. In March 2013 the company received its first "Fiji Airways" re-branded Airbus A330. It was christened The Island of Taveuni and had its first flight to Auckland on 2 April. In June, one of the Boeing 747-400s was retired. The other one, although 'withdrawn from service', was used on an ad-hoc basis when needed. It was finally retired on 20 November 2013 where it was flown to be scrapped. Today the fleet includes two Airbus A350-900, four Airbus A330-200s, one Airbus A330-300, three Boeing 737-800s, and two Boeing 737 MAXs. Fiji Link operates two ATR 72-600, an ATR 42-600 and three de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. In preparation of the rebranding, Air Pacific retired its Boeing 747-412s from service.

On 2 May 2019. Fiji Airways announced its intention to lease two Airbus A350-900 from Dubai Aerospace Enterprise as a part of their fleet expansion. They operate on routes to Australia, New Zealand and the United States. These A350 frames were originally to be delivered to Hong Kong Airlines, however following the cancellation of that order, they were purchased by Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.[better source needed]

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