Business

Airline commends govt for backing loans

October 13, 2021 5:20 am

Fiji Airways chief executive, Andre Viljeon says they are grateful to the government for guaranteeing their loan for three years.

This includes domestic borrowings of up to FJ$191.1 million and off-shore borrowings of up to US$117.1 million.

“As you know they gave us $455m in long-term debt guarantees to enable us to obtain more financing and all that has assisted us to manage to get ready to survive through COVID.”

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When the first wave of the pandemic hit Fiji in April 2020, the national airlines revenue immediately dropped to zero.

Viljeon says they had to go through substantial measures to reduce costs and preserve cash.

He adds that apart from this, they also added a lot of cash through new loans.