Fiji Airports has spent close to $300 000 to upgrade the runway at the Lakeba airport.

The first flight on the new runway landed last Friday.

Chief executive Faiz Khan says the Lakeba runway refurbishment is the second major infrastructure upgrade completed for their network of Outer Island Airports over the past two weeks.

Khan says these runway upgrades will improve air connectivity.

He says these developments on its remote outer island airports are challenging due to the complexity and isolation.

Fiji Airports also recently completed the Bureta Airport runway upgrade.

In the New Year, upgrades are earmarked for the Vunisea runway in Kadavu.

Khan says the Labasa Airport runway and apron will also be upgraded in 2020 as part of their ongoing Outer Island Airports Development Programme.

In 2018, Fiji Airports made a cash loss of $18.9 million in the running of its network of airports including Nausori and the outer islands.