With the inaugural Fiji Airways Nadi-San Francisco route flight ready for take-off tomorrow, the national airline has been selling well and has seen good forward intakes.
Fiji Airways Executive general manager Corporate, Shaenaz Voss, said they had anticipated this given the large demographic of Fijians and other Pacific islanders in the area (San Francisco).
“Our inaugural flights to and from San Francisco are showing good loads and we continue to see healthy booking trends,” she said.
Fiji Sun reports Fiji Airways has planned a special send-off event for passengers onboard the inaugural flights on both the Nadi and San Francisco ends.
“We’ll also be having a celebration event on Saturday June 18 for trade and San Francisco media, as well as partners and invited guests from the local Fijian community residing in the area,” Voss said.
“New Zealand Grammy-Award winning artist now based in the US, Kimbra, will also be performing at the function.
“She’s flown with us a few times and has become a friend and fan of the airline and the country.”
Fiji Airways will use its Airbus A330-200s as well as the latest fleet addition – A330-300 – for this service, depending on aircraft rotation.
Fiji Airways has launched the Nadi-San Francisco route as a seasonal service which will run for three months till August and then for another three months from December till February.
We asked Voss about the possibility of making this a permanent route, to which she replied: “This will depend on demand.
“If demand supports year-round services, then it’s something we will consider. For now, we’ll continue to work on maximising our seasonal services.”
This seasonal route will not have any impact on the existing eight flights going into Los Angeles (LAX), USA weekly from Nadi.
Voss highlighted, generally, traffic and demand out of the US has grown year upon year and this is reflected in the increase of their capacity and daily services.
“Naturally, you have your peak and your trough periods, but overall, the United States remains one of our strongest markets,” she said.
“The first few months saw a slight downturn as a result of back-to-back natural disasters.
“We are now seeing bookings recover and demand return and increase further, particularly in the dive and honeymoon segments which Fiji is so well known for as a destination