Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says Fiji Airways is carefully considering acquiring more aircraft and further increasing capacity on some existing routes.

Rabuka says feasibility studies are ongoing, and potential new routes exist, some of which connect to very large markets.

He adds that up to July this year, the national airline has carried 978,000 return-trip passengers, which equates to some 489,000 visitors, including from the Fijian Diaspora.

Rabuka says the full target for this year is more than 2 million returned passengers, which translates to approximately one million visitors, including those from the Diaspora.

“The present annual total is more than 60,000 tons. It complements very well the People’s Alliance government’s plans for trade expansion supported by the coalition partners. This economic powerhouse each year spends about $450m locally which is an earner of foreign currency.”

Rabuka says in 2023, the total is expected to be $1.5 billion, and we can add to that the projected payment of $80 million in departure taxes.

He adds that the budgeted cost this year of the Fiji Airways workforce is $182m including salaries and other related expenses.