Pacific Star

It’s the little airline with a big heart. In the South Pacific, where history suggests financial success for carriers is hard to come by, Fiji Airways has broken the mold with four years of consecutive record profits. And the future is looking just as sunny.

When it comes to the scattered, sparsely populated islands of the South Pacific, more often than not, headlines about their airlines have been along the lines of: “Trouble in Paradise”. For years, too much capacity and not enough passengers have been the backdrop to financial instability, volatile results and even collapse. Not any more for Fiji Airways, which has chalked up four consecutive years of record profits and appears to have found a recipe for success.

At its headquarters at Fiji’s international gateway of Nadi the staff are reaping in bonuses as the carrier gets ready to take delivery of new aircraft and further expand its global reach. Not only will five Boeing 737 MAX 8s begin arriving this year – two will come in November and December and the remaining three in 2019 – bringing more significant savings in fuel costs and economics, the airline’s management has begun the process of looking at what it will buy to replace its long-haul fleet of Airbus A330s.