Air Pacific rebrands as Fiji Airways, new Airbus A330s due 2013
By David Flynn, May 14 2012
Air Pacific will rebrand as Fiji Airways as part of a turnaround plan that also involves new Airbus aircraft.
The airline – which enjoys majority ownership by the Fijian government (51%) and Qantas (46.32%), along with smaller slices by Air New Zealand and the governments of Kiribati, Tonga, Nauru and Samoa – is yet to reveal its new brand and livery, which will feature on three new Airbus 330-200s due from June.
Those are the first new widebody aircraft ever purchased by the airline and will fly from Fiji to Australia, Auckland, Hong Kong and Los Angeles.
Air Pacific has now revealed the new business class seats and inflight entertainment system to feature on these new A330s – see our story for all the details.
Air Pacific CEO and Managing Director David Pflieger says the "stylised name and new logo" of Fiji Airways will be revealed "in early July", with the new A330's livery to debut in October.
The Fiji Airways name marks a return to the airline's original title from 1958 and 1970, which Pflieger says will see the airline more closely aligned with its Fijian heritage.
Air Pacific CEO David Pflieger: "Our rebranding is part of an overall turnaround plan"
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
QF Gold
06 Feb 2011
Total posts 5
Makes sense. Rebrand along with a new hard product, lord knows they need it - their 747's are well past their sell by date compared to the rest of the region. As a QFF, hope they retain ties and they install a decent business class seat in the new aircraft.
03 Jan 2011
Total posts 665
newformula, I'm not necessarily sure I agree with you that those 747s are past their sell-by date. For short flights to Fiji, I'd take a 747 over a 737 or A320 any day, whether at the pointy end or down the back. Tabua class is actually pretty comfy for a short hop compared with standard domestic business seats (which is what the A330s will probably get, though we can hope in a 2-2-2 rather than 2-3-2 configuration).
And across the Pacific, sure, the seats aren't as good in business as competitors, but then they're not as expensive either. For a business traveller who's more at the comfort/price end of the comfort/price/speed triangle, it's a good option to LAX.
And economy is economy -- Air Pacific's isn't as bad as United's, though the real problem is getting stuck down the back of a high-density 747 when it comes time to queue for arrivals processing.
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