Yea — this is not to shabby. Photo by Jason Rabinowitz / AirlineReporter.com
Recently, I embarked on a journey to Fiji to experience Fiji Airways’ brand new Airbus A330. Thankfully, once I got to Fiji I didn’t just turn around and go home, I got to experience Fiji for several days, and I had an absolute blast. Over four days, I stayed at several high end resorts, experienced some amazing adventures, and threw in some #AvGeek awesomeness along the way.
Upon arriving in Fiji on the brand new A330, the tour company Rosie Holidays shuttled us to our first destination, the Radisson Blu Resort on Denarau Island, about a 40 minute drive from the airport. We were only spending one night at the Radisson, but I was quite impressed with the property. The rooms were fairly large, and free (but slow) wifi was available everywhere. The highlight of our stay at the Radisson Blu came in the form of dinner in one of their pools — yes in. The tables and chairs were in water about 3 feet deep [see photo below], creating a very cool and unique atmosphere.
Fiji Airways Airbus A330 over Fiji. Photo from Fiji Airways.
Yes — this photo is real.
It was taken from a helicopter over Fiji and this is one awesome looking photo. AirlineReporter.com’s own Jason Rabinowitz got to experience a similar low-fly-over when he headed to Fiji as well. Looks as good from inside the plane as outside.
This is also a good time to point out that as of June 27th, the Air Pacific name has been replaced with Fiji Airways and the Airbus A330s have started flying for the airline. The A330 product is leaps and bounds more impressive than the classic Boeing 747-400 Air Pacific product.
Flying only 900 feet above Fiji was not too shabby.
A media flight is always a special event, but there are a few things that can make it even more special. So how special is a media flight that also happens to be a delivery flight flown by two Airbus “expert pilots” who preformed a 2 hour low altitude fly by with the airline CEO on board as well as the artist responsible for the airlines brand new image? Yea, that is special. What else could Air Pacific, soon to be Fiji Airways, possibly have added to this flight to make it more special? I can’t think of anything. This is the story of a small airline that made a big impression.
Air Pacific is re-branding in a big way, which I detailed in a review of their new Airbus A330. To help promote these big changes, Fiji Airways in cooperation with Tourism Fiji invited a small handful of travel bloggers and journalists, as well as one #AvGeek (me), to fly out to Fiji and witness the delivery ceremonies of their second new Airbus A330.
The tiny Pacific island of Fiji has a national airline just as tiny. Air Pacific, however, dreams big and their dream just came true. In just a few short days, the Air Pacific name will be retired, ushering in the era of Fiji Airways, and more importantly, a new fleet.
After a time of financial difficulty, Air Pacific has rebounded to profitability, and decided it was time to replace their aging 747-400 long-haul fleet. Initially ordering and later cancelling a fleet of eight Boeing 787s, Air Pacific ordered three Airbus A330-200s in late 2011, the second of which was delivered last week. These airplanes represent everything that is new about the tiny airline, inside and out.
