Fiji Airways today celebrated the country’s 50th year of independence with a special FJ50 ‘Flight against cancer’ with 66 passengers on board its flagship A350-900XWB aircraft.
FJ50 offered a rare bird’s-eye view, doing a low flyover around Suva’s Albert Park as part of the Official Fiji Day Activities Programme, as well as some of the most picturesque spots in the country.
Fijians celebrating Fiji Day at Suva’s Albert Park got a glimpse of the A350 as it flew past during the official ceremony.
As an added surprise, FJ 50’s flight path outlined the number “50”, to mark the special occasion.
The flight was operated under written approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF), who also had senior personnel present onboard for observation.
A limited number of seats were made available in return for specified donations.
All proceeds will be channelled to the Fiji Cancer Society (FCS) for the fight against cancer.
The flight collected in excess of $15,000 in donations for the Fiji Cancer Society.
Flight FJ50 guests were treated to a special experience, enjoying breakfast at the Fiji Airways Premier Lounge before boarding the flight.
Managing Director and CEO, Andre Viljoen says their Airbus A350, which is our newest aircraft has been in our COVID-19 short-term ‘ready for flight’ storage programme.
He says the programme requires periodic planned flights to ensure the aircraft is ready to return to commercial service rapidly when required.
Fiji Airways says The aircraft was slated to undertake its periodic storage programme flight in early October, and because today is an important milestone in the country’s history, we are taking an operational necessity, and turning it into something special.
Onboard, guests received a commemorative boarding pass souvenir with unique details of the flight before returning to Nadi at the conclusion of the flight.
