Air Pacific new brand invokes past

14 May 2012, 3:32 pm   -   Source: AAP

Air Pacific has gone back to the past by announcing a name change to Fiji Airways as part of a wider turnaround strategy.

Air Pacific is to revert to is previous name, Fiji Airways, in a bid to more closely associate itself with the tourist hotspot.

The change is the latest move in Air Pacific chief executive Dave Pflieger's turnaround plan for the national airline.

Mr Pflieger said Air Pacific's revival would be further boosted by the new name and new Airbus A330-200s arriving in 2013.

The airline's operating losses narrowed to $FJD3.6 million ($A2 million) in fiscal 2011 from $FJD91.8 million ($A50.3 million) in fiscal 2010.

"As a management team we are focused on completing the turnaround, the revitalisation and effectively the relaunch of the airline once we get the new airplanes and the new brand," Mr Pflieger said in an interview from Fiji on Monday.

"We are doing better than expected to date and hopefully that will continue."

Mr Pflieger said the Air Pacific name was not working.

"They are not recognised. They are not notable, and they don't help us sell tickets or fill our seats with passengers coming to visit Fiji," Mr Pflieger said.

Air Pacific, which was known as Fiji Airways between 1958 and 1970, is 51 per cent owned by the Fijian government, with Qantas Airways holding 46.3 per cent.

The remainder is held by Air New Zealand as well as the governments of Kiribati, Tonga, Samoa and Nauru.

Mr Pflieger said there has been no effect on day-to-day operations after the Fijian government in March issued a decree that Fiji-registered airlines must be under the "substantial ownership and effective control" of a citizen of Fiji.

Although denied by the government, the move was regarded in some quarters as a nationalisation of the airline.

"Right now, it is business as usual," Mr Pflieger said.

"I have not seen anything different from Qantas, but I have no idea what lies in the future."

Qantas has said previously it was looking to sell its take in the airline.

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