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Fijian soldiers and security officers serving in far flung outposts around the world now have a quicker and cheaper way to get home following the launch of Air Pacific’s direct services to Hong Kong.
What used to be a two day journey involving at least one stopover and at a cost of over $2000 is now a straightforward, cheaper affair.
“I’ve saved over a thousand dollars,” said one Fijian serviceman serving in Afghanistan with the United Nations, who boarded Air Pacific flight FJ 392 on December 19.
At least six other former Fiji military men serving with security companies in Iraq and Afghanistan were among locals on the plane, heading home for Christmas.
“This is really great for us. I wonder if the British Army soldiers know about this,” he added, referring to the over 2000 Fijian men serving in the Queen’s army.
The new route, which opened up this month, serves as a one-stop for passengers to European countries as well through a code share with Cathay Pacific.
Previously, these same passengers would have to transit through Sydney or Korea, taking more than 15 hours to reach Fiji, compared to only 10 hours on the new direct route.
Kolita Fernando, who was enroute to Sri Lanka said “it has been years” since he visited his family in Colombo and he wouldn’t be taking his new Fijian partner this time if it hadn’t been for “over a thousand dollars” he saved in airfares.
“Well it’s going to open up a lot of opportunities with the normal UK, Europe traffic,” said Watson Seeto, Air Pacific’s Regional General Manager Asia.
“We’ve got India, we’ve got the south face of China. But, we’ve also got northern China which we haven’t really explored yet.”
Seeto says interest is building up as the Chinese New Year on February 14, 2010, looms.
“Right now our flights on the 11th and the 13th are sold out and we’ve still got groups asking for seats, but we’ve only got so many seats. The flights are full.”
“If we drive a bit more interest, we’ll be able to get our third flight most probably faster than the three years that we had expected, so most probably in two years.”
With Air Pacific facing stiff competition on its traditional routes, the Asian skies may have opened up at an opportune time.
Last week, new direct flights to Fiji were launched by Virgin Blue Group company V Australia.
Competition for Air Pacific on the Fiji-Australia route is expected to heat up further when Qantas subsidiary Jetstar begins daily services between Nadi and Sydney from March.
All of which means visitor arrivals from Australia are expected to bounce back strongly in the coming months following a slump in the first half of the year.
