FIJI’S NATIONAL AIRLINE AIR PACIFIC TO BE REBRANDED AS “FIJI AIRWAYS” BY2013

FIJIAN GOVERNMENT OFFERS FULL SUPPORT TO AIRLINE’S DEVELOPMENT Air Pacific today announced the historic name change from Air Pacific to Fiji Airways, a major development for the airline with government’s full support.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said that as Fijians, “we take pride in our country and now our national airline can better reflect this in name also”.

“There are exciting times ahead for our national airline, the new interior cabin design will be revealed in the coming months and the general public and the tourism industry looks forward in anticipation of the new design,” Prime Minister Bainimarama told guests including those from both the tourism and airline sector.
“All of these positive changes in Fiji Airways, formerly Air Pacific, in recent years have been facilitated by and has the support of my Government.”
Prime Minister Bainimarama added that government recognised Fiji Airways as the national carrier as being vital contributor to the Fijian economy.
“It, therefore, is only logical that Fiji Airways continues to be a viable and sustainable commercial entity,” Prime Minister Bainimarama said.
“It is, therefore only logical that the staff, the management, the shareholders and the other partners remain committed to Fiji Airways.”
In addition, Prime Minister stated that any deviation from this objective could spell disaster for the national carrier, its employers, the tourism sector and the economy as seen in other countries.
Attorney General and Minister for Civil Aviation, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that the rebranding of Air Pacific to “Fiji Airways” was a milestone for the company and also part and parcel of the Bainimarama government’s agenda of utilising and capitalising on the Fijian brand.
“The Fijian brand conjures up different images, if you go to Europe and you mention Fiji, people will never respond to you in a negative fashion even though they may have never seen the map of Fiji,” Sayed-Khaiyum said.
Minister Sayed-Khaiyum highlighted that this was one of the reasons for the change in name for the Fiji Visitors Bureau to Tourism Fiji, the Fiji Trade & Investment Bureau to Investment Fiji and the Fiji Audio Visual Commission to Film Fiji under the Bainimarama government.
Chief Executive Officer for Air Pacific, Dave Pflieger said that an extensive brand and marketing audit revealed that Air Pacific’s customers and the traveling public did not associate the name of the airline – Air Pacific with Fiji.
“In short, despite our 42 years of efforts to market the name ‘Air Pacific’, Fiji is the word that resonates and motivates people to find us, to buy tickets on us, and to build vacation packages to our South Pacific paradise,” Pflieger said.