FIJI FLIGHTS

Air New Zealand to improve Tasman and Pacific Island services

People travelling in Australasia this year could benefit from a number of improvements being made to Air New Zealand’s trans-Tasman and Pacific Island services.

The carrier claimed that its changes will set ‘a new benchmark in terms of competitive pricing, choice and the airport experience’.

Air New Zealand currently carries 2.1m passengers between Australia and New Zealand every year, as well as more than 500,000 travellers to and from the Pacific Islands.

In a bid to maintain or increase these market shares, the company intends to reduce airport waiting times by an average of 45 minutes with the introduction of new kiosks and a more efficient check-in process.

The airline’s Airbus A320 Tasman Pacific fleet will be standardised to a single class with 171 seats, while lead-in fares will be cut to offer more value to customers.

Bruce Parton of Air New Zealand said: ‘With our high frequency of flights across the Tasman and to the Pacific Islands, Air New Zealand is the airline of choice for the majority of both business and leisure travellers departing New Zealand.’

Destinations served by the airline in the region include Sydney, Auckland and the islands of Fiji and Tonga.

Australian airline company Jetstar will begin flights to Fiji from next Monday, a development that will see tough competition within the Fiji-Australia route.

Tourism Fiji Chairman Patrick Wong says Jetstar’s arrival will set an exciting platform for the tourism industry in 2010.

Wong says Jetstar will allow for greater flexibility, accessibility and expanded options for air services.

He says more work needs to be done in Australia, a country with a population of 22 million and with an outbound travel figure of 6 million. Fiji only takes about 3.9 percent of Australia’s outbound travel.

Wong says the additional seat capacities and commencement of Jetstar will encourage more Australians to come to Fiji

Air Pacific’s two B747-400 aircraft will undergo scheduled major maintenance at the Singapore Airlines Engineering Base in Singapore between April 19, to May 29, 2010.
This was confirmed by Air Pacific Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer John Campbell who said each aircraft will complete approximately two and a half weeks of major maintenance in the five week period.

He also said that Air Pacific’s schedules adjusted to accommodate the reduced B747 fleet.

“The planned maintenance programme with its focus on engine, airframe and cabin preventative maintenance includes refreshment of the interior and deep cleaning of the aircraft.

“Electrical, hydraulic and mechanical systems on the airframe and engines will be checked and serviced.

“Upon completion of this work, the next scheduled major maintenance will be in approximately eighteen months time, depending upon the number of hours the aircraft fly in that period.

“Routine base maintenance is carried out on a weekly basis by Air Pacific’s team of qualified and licensed engineers in Nadi,” Mr Campbell said.

Named Island of Vanua Levu and Island of Viti Levu, Boeing 747-400 was introduced into the Air Pacific fleet in 2003.

These planes have a total seating capacity of 458 passengers, 28 in Tabua/Business class and 430 in Pacific Voyager/Economy Class.

Air Pacific is Fiji’s international airline and is proudly known as the World’s Friendliest Airline and operates a fleet of Boeing jet aircraft and ATR42 500s to 16 cities in 11 countries.

New Hot Fares from Air Pacific
Monday, 8 March 2010

Air Pacific has introduced highly competitive return air fares from Australia to Fiji which start at $510 from Sydney, $590 from Brisbane and $638 from Melbourne, inclusive of taxes.

The new fares will be on sale from March 6 until May 14 and will be valid for travel from March 6 to December 7, with some blackout periods.

Air Pacific is a full service airline which operates flights to Nadi and beyond, daily from Sydney and Brisbane and from Melbourne three times a week. Supplementary services have been introduced during peak periods from the three gateway cities.