History
The airline was established and started operations in 1951. It was founded by Australian aviator Harold Gatty. The company previously operated as Fiji Airways .The airline was previously headquartered on the grounds of Nausori Airport in Suva.
Air Pacific began service to the USA in 1983. The airline has been profitable every year between 1995 and 2004, except in 2001. Over 500,000 passengers were carried in 2004. The airline was responsible for starting the first ever scheduled international services to the capital of Australia, Canberra. While the service operated twice weekly for a number of months it is now suspended.
Air Pacific acquired Sun Air, a domestic airline, in 2007. This formed the basis for Pacific Sun, Air Pacific's domestic and regional subsidiary.
Air Pacific is majority owned by the Fijian government (51%) and Qantas (46.32%). Air New Zealand and the governments of Kiribati, Tonga, Nauru and Samoa each hold minor stakes. It employed 771 people as of March 2007.
In 2008 the airline decided to withdraw from the Japan market. The airline stated that it tried many schemes to re-stimulate demand from Japan, but did not find success. The same year, Air Pacific withdrew its service to Vancouver, to which it had operated via Honolulu since 2000.
Air Pacific announced a record after tax loss of FJ$65.3 million (US$35.3 million) for the 2009/2010 financial year. The after tax loss for the previous financial year was FJ$5.2 million (US$2.8 million). The chairman Nalin Patel says this was the toughest financial year for the company due to high fuel costs, the impact of new competition, lower fares and the global financial crisis.
In April 2011, it was announced that Air Pacific had cancelled its order for eight Boeing 787s. In October 2011, Air Pacific ordered three Airbus A330-200 from Airbus. The new ordered Airbus A330-200's will be branded in the company's new livery as Fiji Airways with the first aircraft to be operational in March 2013. Two more additional A330's will arrive through mid to late 2013.
Read more about this topic: Air Pacific
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