Fiji’s national carrier, Air Pacific, will add flights to Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and the US this year, following the delivery of its new Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The first new A330 is due to enter service on 2 April 2013, flying between Nadi and Auckland. This will mark the start of new five-times-a-week service to the New Zealand city. Brisbane will be the first Australian city to see the A330, with five weekly flights starting on 21 April. Sydney’s A330 flights start on 8 June, with frequencies on the route rising to twice a day from September 2013 and 17 flights per week during peak season, using a mix of A330s and Boeing 737s. The first Melbourne A330 flight will commence in December, with five weekly flights.
The A330 will also start operating to Hong Kong from 4 April, with twice weekly flights every Thursday and Saturday, replacing the B747 that currently operates the route. A third A330 flight will be added in January 2014.
The US will see its first A330 flight on 1 July, when the airline deploys the aircraft to Los Angeles. The current schedule of four weekly B747 flights will be replaced with a mix of A330 and B747 services until November, following which the A330s will fully take over the route, with daily services.
“The entire Air Pacific team is thrilled about the opportunity to start showing our regular customers and new visitors to Fiji our new state-of-the-art A330s,” said David Pflieger, Air Pacific’s managing director & CEO.” “While our goal has always been to offer our customers the best flying experience in the Pacific, our new planes are going to make a huge difference in our ability to deliver on that promise, and we will be revealing even better service and other surprises when we officially become ‘Fiji Airways’ later this year.”
The move to the new A330s comes as Air Pacific rebrands to Fiji Airways. The new A330s, which will feature the new Fiji Airways livery, will come equipped with 273 seats – 24 in business class and 249 in economy.
By the end of 2013, Air Pacific will have retired its entire fleet of B747s and repainted all of its B737s.
