Air Pacific

Origins

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.

Flight history

Fiji Airways' inaugural 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, the airline 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 from Nadi, which was increased to three services in January 2014. In July 2010, Air Pacific announced a new Suva-Auckland service, which was discontinued in 2020.

Air Pacific

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 in 1974 the government of Fiji began increasing its shareholding. By 1978, it owned 93%. In 1987, Qantas purchased 20%. In 1993, the government owned 80%, Qantas 10% and Air New Zealand 2%. Having in 1995 acquired a further 8% from Sea-Com, in 1998, Qantas increased its shareholding to 46%.

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 2005, 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.

Rebranding as Fiji Airways

In May 2012, the airline announced that it would be rebranding to its original name of Fiji Airways, with the rebranding coinciding with the delivery of the A330 aircraft in 2013. Fiji Airways' new logo, a "Masi symbol that epitomises Fiji and enhances the new name of Fiji's national carrier", was announced by Managing Director & CEO Dave Pflieger on 17 August 2012. The design was created by local Fijian Masi artist, Makereta Matemosi. The airline's new brand identity and colour scheme were fully revealed by the CEO and Prime Minister of Fiji at a formal red-carpet, black-tie event in Suva on 10 October 2012, in conjunction with Fiji Day.

The rebranding to Fiji Airways officially took place on 27 June 2013. The name change aimed to associate the airline more closely with the nation and to be more visible in search results. Also during the rebranding of Air Pacific to Fiji Airways, a new line of uniforms for its cabin crew was launched, and was designed by Fiji-based French designer Alexandra Poenaru-Philp. In China, the name Air Pacific was often confused with Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific, Philippine airline Cebu Pacific and a Chinese air conditioning company. With the rebranding came a name change for the airline's booking classes. The Pacific Voyager (economy) and Tabua Class (business) of Air Pacific became the Fiji Airways' Economy and Fiji Airways' Business Class. The airline also launched a new website with the rebranding.

Fleet history

Fiji Airways used small de Havilland Dragon Rapide and de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover aircraft when it was newly founded. The fleet grew to include two ATR 42 turboprops and two leased jets, a Boeing 747-200B 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 domestic flights.