Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they will be working to ensure that Fiji’s export sector remains viable.

With a stringent scale back of 95 percent of Fiji Airways international flights, there are discussions now to ensure that farmers, exporters and business owners can work together to secure a regular freight schedule.

Sayed-Khaiyum says given the volume of Fiji’s exports, there’s ample avenue to negotiate a possible twice weekly service with the national air carrier to the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

“We want to ensure that Fiji Airways is able to continue its freight services. There are many exporters, you know they export dalo, cassava, bhindi, eggplant, all sorts of exports, yaqona to LA, they go on the flights to LA so we want those freight services to continue.”

The suspension of the Fiji Airways flights in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in effect is scheduled until the end of the May.

There is a possibility that the majority of the national carrier’s fleet will remain grounded dependent on how the global coronavirus situation develops.