Fiji Airways to upgrade their fleet with B737 Max 8s

Fiji Airways has announced the inclusion of five new Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in its fleet.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Andre Viljoen says the five brand new B737 Max 8 planes will replace the existing B737s which will offer increased efficiencies and modern in flight experience for customers.

The planes are expected to service Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Fiji Airways has announced that two planes will be delivered in 2018 while three will be delivered in 2019.

The new planes will have the capacity to carry 170 passengers with a larger cabin area.

Viljoen says the new planes will reduce their fuel costs by 15 percent.

He says the improved operating economics and product enhancements were compelling reasons to consider renewing the current Boeing 737 planes.

The 12 year leasing arrangement with the Boeing consortium is confidential however the list price of each plane is 100 million US dollars.

Fiji Airways currently has 15 planes - 4 Airbus 330s, 5 B737 NGs,  3 ATRs and 3 Twin Otters.

Viljoen says they wanted planes that are more fuel efficient, save 15 percent fuel as a minimum, cheaper to maintain, more powerful and planes that fly further.

Intense negotiations took place between Airbus and Boeing consortiums over the past few months and Fiji Airways approved the B737 Max 8 planes yesterday.

Viljoen also thanked Boeing for providing the 4 million US dollars cash donation towards a Boeing 737 flight simulator to be set up in Nadi.

He says they are in the process of developing a country training academy for pilots and there is a need to acquire full flight simulators for the academy

They were looking at acquiring B373 simulators and somewhere in the future the Airbus simulators.

Minister for Civil Aviation and Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says tourism is a major part of our GDP and we have to ensure our national carrier is very strong.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the addition of these new state-of-art aircraft from 2018 will continue the modernization of the Fiji Airways fleet that began three years ago with the delivery of the first wide-bodied A330-200.

He also says that they are proud that they will reduce the carbon footprint by 15 percent.

US Ambassador to Fiji, Judith Cefkin was also present during the announcement and welcomes Fiji Airways decision to choose the Boeing planes.