Fiji Airways’ Executive Manager Global Sales expects the airline will carry one million passengers on its flights this year.
Akuila Batiweti says while this is the airline’s 2024 target, he is optimistic this goal will be reached in 2023.
He projects that Fiji Airways will generate between FJ$1.5-$1.6 billion in revenue in 2023, 95% of that being foreign currency.
The carrier recently relaunched its service to Kiritimati Island (KIribati) and will begin flying to Canberra, Australia for the first time in July. It is adding a third weekly service to the Hong Kong route in August, a fourth flight in October, and a fifth weekly service by December.
“Our Hong Kong flights are so full right now. We have challenges with resourcing out in the airports, but we are doing our best and we hope to add a lot more services soon,” Batiweti observes.
Flying to so-called ‘secondary’ cities in Australia such as Canberra and Adelaide, is also part of the airline’s strategy. Batiweti says Canberra is a “wonderful opportunity” as the city has the highest level of disposable income per capita of any Australian city, is very cold in winter, and has no access to a beach. Initially two services a week will be offered on this route.
“We’re actually trying our best to add more services because our flights are already quite full for Canberra. So it’s very encouraging for us as a destination to be able to open up a new route and straight away fill up those flights,” he says.
Fiji Airways expects the delivery of two new A350s in the third quarter of this year, the first in late July, and the second in the first week of August.
Batiweti says these aircraft have been game changers as they have helped the airline meet the demand for extra seats and burn 10 times less fuel than the A330s between Los Angeles and Nadi.
The larger planes have also enabled Fiji Airways to carry more freight, particularly during COVID-19.
“On the A350, we carry between 20 to 25 tonnes of freight on top of passengers, which can carry 60 more passengers than the A330. We carry everything from taro, turmeric and ginger. The A350 allows us to connect Fiji to markets in agriculture and trade,” Batiweti notes.
In 2022, Fiji Airways carried 12,000 tonnes of freight. Batiweti expects that to increase this year.
Meanwhile Fiji Airways has resumed Pacific Island routes.
“We’ve given our Pacific Island brothers and sisters the opportunity to also connect by flying these flights between midnight and 5am,” Batiweti says of the ‘back of the clock’ services from Tonga and Samoa, which connect to early-morning services to Australia and New Zealand. He has suggested other Pacific Island routes may be added.
He notes North America will be a future focus for Fiji Airways, with capacity to the three North American ports (Los Angles, San Francisco and Vancouver) up by 50% more than in 2019. “We are looking at some new ports in America beyond San Francisco and LA,” he says.
“What the A350 brings us now is the ability to go further than we’ve ever dreamt of going. Our A350 can fly about 17 hours. So right now, our longest ports take about 10 hours. We can go quite far with our A350. The possibilities in the new countries and new destinations to fly to are endless for us.”
While there is optimism at the airline, Fiji police have confirmed they are following up on a complaint relating to the purchase of aircraft through Waqavuka Financing, the company registered in Ireland to hold the titles of the new aircraft until the loan used to secure them has been repaid. Fiji Airways has told the Fiji Times that it is unaware of the investigation.
