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Parliament approves government guarantee for Fiji Airways

May 26, 2020 7:20 am

Civil Aviation Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. [File Photo]

Parliament has approved the motion for the government to guarantee the Fiji Airways borrowing of $455m.

This consists of a mix of domestic borrowing of up to 191.1m Fijian Dollars and off shore borrowings of up to 117.1 million US Dollars.

This will be valid for three years effective from May 30th.

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Civil Aviation Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says this will keep the national Airline Fiji Airways up and running.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the national airline is feeling the full brunt of the COVID-19 impacts resulting in job losses, the grounding of flights and this cannot continue.

He says they are earning near-zero revenue and are seeking the governments to help address the issue.

“The guarantee that we are seeking is for a number of sources of funding that will be ascertained. FNPF is providing a loan of $53 million. The Reserve Bank of Fiji through the Export Finance Facility Loan will lend $75m to the Fiji Development Bank which will then lend it to Fiji Airways because RBF cannot do the Direct Landing at the rate of three percent so FDB will have the opportunity to make some money with the two percent margin that they will charge.”

Fiji Airways will also be exempted from paying the guarantee fee.