The hard landing of the A330 plane in March at the Sydney Airport has cost Fiji Airways $8.6m.

According to airline CEO, Stefan Pichler, that was the amount the airline had to pay, however the total cost of the repair is much higher.

“This was the expense we had to pay. The expense in total was more because we had to lease the landing gear, ferry the material back and forth, and whatever so the total cost must be higher but we got back some money from the insurance that’s the net cost for us. "

Pichler adds, had the incident never occurred, it would have meant $8.6 m more profit.

Meanwhile, the pilot has been demoted.