Fiji Link is the trade name for Fiji Airlines Limited, which is a Fijian domestic

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

and a wholly owned subsidiary of the international carrier

Fiji Airways Fiji Airways, formerly Air Pacific, is the flag carrier of Fiji. It operates international services from its hubs in Fiji to 27 destinations, and has an extended network of 108 international destinations through its codeshare partners, includi ...

. It is headquartered at the Fiji Link office in the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAFI) compound at

Nadi International Airport Nadi International Airport is the main international airport of Fiji as well as an important regional hub for the South Pacific islands, located by the coast on the Ba Province in the Western Division, Fiji, Western Division of the main island V ...

Nadi Nadi (, ) is the second-largest city in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 59,707 at the most recent census, in 2017. Nadi is multiracial with many of its inhabitants Asians, India ...

. It operates scheduled services to 11 destinations within the Fijian Islands as well as regionally within the

Pacific Islands The Pacific islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of several ...

. The company slogan is ''Best value under the Sun.''

History

Don Collingwood, a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

and businessman, founded what became Pacific Sun in 1980, under the name Sunflower Airlines, which later changed to Sun Air. It began with a single Britten Norman BN2 Islander aircraft, flying the Nadi-

Taveuni Taveuni (pronounced ) is the third-largest island in Fiji, after Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, with a total land area of . The cigar-shaped island, a massive shield volcano which rises from the floor of the Pacific Ocean, is situated east of Vanua ...

route. Other than the BN2 Islanders which remained the backbone of the fleet, the airline operated a wide range of

piston A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder (engine), cylinder a ...

and

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

aircraft including the Beechcraft Baron, Beechcraft Queen Air,

de Havilland Heron The de Havilland DH.114 Heron is a small Propeller (aircraft), propeller-driven British airliner that first flew on 10 May 1950. It was a development of the twin-engine de Havilland Dove, with a stretched fuselage and two more Reciprocating e ...

Short 330 The Short 330 (also SD3-30) is a small turboprop transport aircraft produced by Short Brothers. It seats up to 30 people and was relatively inexpensive and had low maintenance costs at the time of its introduction in 1976. The 330 was based on ...

, and de Havilland Canada DHC-6. By January 2007, before its official handover to Air Pacific, its fleet had grown to 12 aircraft, and the company employed nearly 140 staff. On 31 January 2007, Sun Air was sold and handed over to current parent company

, formerly Air Pacific, which had to fight off a legal challenge against the handover by the now-defunct rival domestic carrier at the time, Air Fiji. Air Pacific then established the domestic airline as Fiji Airlines Limited, trading as Pacific Sun. The airline began operations with eight aircraft, including the introduction of two ATR 42–500 aircraft purchased used from

Air Mauritius Air Mauritius is the flag carrier airline of Mauritius. The airline is headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius, with its Airline hub, hub at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. History Foundation The company was established on 14 J ...

, along with three existing BN2 Islanders and three DHC-6s. However, the fleet was cut back to just four between December 2010 and June 2011 due to economic cost cutting, resulting in the withdrawal of the BN2 Islander fleet as well as one DHC-6.http://www.airpacific.com/About-Us/News/Article-ID/40c9c0e0-1418-4b52-9978-58e0f52042e5 Air Pacific Two additional leased DHC-6s were added to the fleet during June 2011 to increase the Pacific Sun fleet to six aircraft. On 26 November 2013, parent Fiji Airways announced Pacific Sun was to be rebranded as ‘Fiji Link’. Operations as Fiji Link commenced in June 2014.

News

In late November 2010, Pacific Sun announced that due to current economical reasons, they were withdrawing their BN2 Islander fleet from service. This meant downsizing the Pacific Sun fleet from eight aircraft to just five. In early December 2010, Pacific Sun announced the redundancy of 85 out of 210 employees. This included staff from administrative, support and operations areas as well as 15 pilots. Pacific Sun's general manager, Jim Samson, explained that continuing operating losses had resulted in management having to make some tough decisions. "Pacific Sun has lost, on average, $6 million per year over the last three years. Continued losses are unsustainable. Regrettably as a result, we have no alternative but to restructure the airline in order to ensure its viability and success going forward," he said. Air Pacific chief executive officer and Pacific Sun board member David Pflieger said since Air Pacific's takeover in 2007, Pacific Sun had accumulated $18.5 million in losses. Air Pacific had loaned $44 million to purchase Sun Air's certificate and operations and two ATR 42 aircraft. In November 2013, Fiji Airways held a competition to rename Pacific Sun. On 13 November, the competition closed with the most votes going to Fiji Link. On 26 November, Fiji Airways released the new name. The new livery was also announced. Operations as Fiji Link commenced in June 2014.

Destinations

As of August 2022, Fiji Link operates scheduled services to the following 11 domestic destinations and two international destinations.

Fleet

, the Fiji Link fleet consists of the following aircraft: In August 2024, Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has signed a lease agreement for three ATR 72-600s with Fiji Airways. The aircraft are from NAC’s existing orderbook with ATR.

References

External links

*
Fiji Airways and Pacific Sun
{{Oneworld Airlines of Fiji Airlines established in 2006 2006 establishments in Oceania