Jetstar Airways flew its inaugural Airbus 320 service into Fiji today with 140-passengers and Jetstar executives on board.
The decision to fly to Fiji has fuelled speculation that Qantas is looking to offload its 46% share in Air Pacific – currently 51% owned by the Fijian Government. It’s believed that Qantas invested in Air Pacific to protect their Pacific interests in the 1980′s at a time when they were concerned about Ansett’s international expansion plans. They are rumoured to have maintained their ownership in the airline so they could strategically place a board member within the group to keep a “watchful eye” on the direction the airline was taking.
It is unknown how the Fijian Government has or will respond to Qantas owned services into the country. Despite the additional capacity and reduced pricing potentially boosting tourism into the region, it’s unclear if the aviation policy drafted by the Government (prior to the 2006 military coup) remains a guiding consideration. The policy states, in part, that “capacity be driven by market demand”. The policy requires airlines prove that they would add (passenger and freight) capacity to the sector and not merely price-poach off their competitors. It’s hard to believe that both V Australia and Jetstar flying near daily services into Nadi won’t have an adverse impact on the struggling Government brand.
I was fortunate enough to be in Nadi to watch the inaugural Jetstar A321 service touchdown and then taxi in under the airport fire services welcoming water cannons. Not expecting their arrival, I failed to have my camera handy so missed out on a good photo opportunity. Unfortunately, the only pictures I did take were with my crappy Nokia E72 through the rain-stained forward windscreen of the aircraft.
There were no more than 5 or 6 people at the airport to welcome the arrival. I expected more.
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