The resumption of flights on the Auckland Nausori sector has been widely welcomed in both Fiji and New Zealand. The inaugural weekly flight took off from Auckland on Monday (July 2) last week with fanfare and returned later the same day with a full complement of passengers in both directions.
While Auckland mayor and supercity mayoral contender John Banks officially inaugurated the flight at the Auckland International Airport, Fiji Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama and Attorney General Aiyaz Saiyed Khaiyum received the flight at Nausori airport about three hours later.
Inaugurating the flight by cutting the ceremonial ribbon Mayor Banks said, “The Air Pacific flights will help both countries, especially during the Rugby World Cup next year. People in New Zealand wishing to take a break in Fiji can fly Air Pacific, rest and be back in time for the next match.
“We want to encourage families, business and corporates to take advantage of the service. I congratulate the Fiji people. There are no such people on earth with good and caring spirits.”
Air Pacific Managing Director and Chief Executive Dave Pflieger, Auckland based regional general manager George Dyer, airline officials, New Zealand and Fiji media persons and passengers attended the brief inauguration ceremony at the gate 1 departure lounge of the airport.
Mr Dyer said the airline had been receiving positive feedback on the service. “The flight suits people heading for the northern side of Fiji for holidays. With Air Pacific, people arrive quicker to see their families without paying a lot of money for travelling and accommodation,” he said.
Speaking to Indian Weekender onboard the inaugural flight, Mr Pflieger said a second Auckland Nausori weekly flight would be added in August, possibly flying on Fridays. He said the airline was already considering resuming its services to Nausori from Australian cities as well.
“We want to connect to places where our customers want to go, so rest assured, I will be looking at that flights from Australia,” he said. The airline is yet to decide on whether the flights will be from Sydney or Brisbane. Mr Pflieger spent most of the time speaking to passengers throughout the flight.
Tourism Fiji chairman Patrick Wong congratulated Air Pacific for the re-introduction of its Nausori-Auckland flight. “We need to spread the benefit of tourism throughout Fiji,” Mr Wong said. “The direct service from Auckland will bring about tourism development to the eastern part of Viti Levu. It will complement what the western division has to offer.”
The flight hovered over central Suva for about ten minutes affording a clear view of the downtown area to passengers before heading northeast toward Nausori to land. Passengers greeted the touchdown with a spontaneous round of applause.
Prime Minister Commodore Bainimarama, who met passengers from the flight at Nausori Airport, said the flights would benefit tourism and stimulate economic growth. He said Suva City is an important link to international destinations and it will open up opportunities and give additional connections for tourists, business people and the travelling public.
The new service will complement Air Pacific’s existing Nadi-Auckland schedule of up to 13 weekly flights, in addition to the weekly Nadi-Christchurch flight.
Earlier, in May this year, Indian Weekender had met Mr Pflieger in the first week of his new role as Air Pacific MD and CEO at his office in Nadi.
He had said then that his priority would be working toward making Air Pacific the preferred airline for connections to the Pacific Islands not only from New Zealand and Australia but also destinations in Asia and his home market of North America.
He said the airline has a couple of the new Boeing 787s on order and their arrival would greatly enhance the airline’s capacity to add connections around the Pacific. Meanwhile, he would look closely at making the best use of the existing fleet and consider adding inter island connections with the airline’s turboprop fleet.
He was keen on promoting the islands as a destination in his native United States, where he said “the awareness of the islands as a great tourist destination is relatively low.” It was a huge market that could boost the region’s economy greatly when travel begins to pick up again as the world emerges from the economic crisis, he added.
Mr. Pflieger has been in the aviation industry in the US for several years and was a Senior Vice President with Virgin America, the leading low cost carrier that has been named best domestic airline in the US in two separate rating systems for each of the two years it has been in existence.
The 47-year-old South Korea-born CEO has 25 years of aviation industry experience as a business executive, attorney, and pilot. Before joining Virgin America, he was the Vice President of Operations for Delta Air Lines' low-cost airline subsidiary.
– Additional reporting by Losalini Rasoqosoqo and Kailash Rao of the Fiji Sun
(Indian Weekender editor-in-chief Dev Nadkarni travelled to Fiji on the inaugural flight as a full fare-paying passenger)