jetwet1 wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

How about LAS?

I don't think so, I cannot see enough demand on the Vegas end and the Fiji end don't have the income.

There would be demand from Australia & NZ for Vegas, but probably 2 or 3 x weekly, not daily. A lot of people do Vegas as part of a wider US trip, but there are quite a few rusted on Vegas fans.

Don't forget that these flights are mainly about chasing connecting traffic from Australia & NZ.

melpax wrote:

jetwet1 wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

How about LAS?

I don't think so, I cannot see enough demand on the Vegas end and the Fiji end don't have the income.

There would be demand from Australia & NZ for Vegas, but probably 2 or 3 x weekly, not daily. A lot of people do Vegas as part of a wider US trip, but there are quite a few rusted on Vegas fans.
ss

Don't forget that these flights are mainly about chasing connecting traffic from Australia & NZ.

I know, and yes maybe a couple of times a week, but I only see FJ attracting the trash yield market. Don't get me wrong, on a personal level I would love to see it, but I'm going with the majority on here with DFW or ORD.

maybe Atlanta connections Delta flights for southeast regions.

Q

Q wrote:

maybe Atlanta connections Delta flights for southeast regions.

Q

Now that is funny and a big no. Taking outside of the distance, FJ is a One World Connect Member, this is going the way of OW hub for feed/traffic

The CEO named the three airports that FJ is looking at in the US. Why are we guessing others that he clearly didn't mention?

JJWess wrote:

Cxtl1na wrote:

Brazil and Argentina? armchair CEO me finds those markets already very well covered (connections to Asia). FJ would be facing TK, EK, QR, AF-KLM, LH, DL, AA, LA and ET. BOG, LIM & SCL could use more options. I think just being one more between many options does give much back buck. Chile has lost visa waiver to transiting via US to Asia will barely be done anymore; the US embassy is short on staff so visa applications will be slow(er). BUT flying to LIM and SCL would likely have LA reacting with its own flights to NAN. Something AR cant do if FJ picks EZE.
Brazil and Argentina really have such bottomless demand?
The article linked speaks of Latin America so i add those comments here.

Do they already fly to Seattle?

I know it's not the US, but they do fly to Vancouver... so unless demand on that route was exceptionally high, I'm not entirely sure if FJ could support both?

IIRC in the Air Pacific days they did run a YNR-HNL-NAN. This was around 2010 I want to say.

Brandon757 wrote:

The CEO named the three airports that FJ is looking at in the US. Why are we guessing others that he clearly didn't mention?

Exactly, if I remember correctly, cities mentioned are DFW, ORD & IAH

melpax wrote:

Some Central/South American destinations might be a good fit for them, such as CUN & Bogata. Don't forget that both Australia & NZ have a lot of permanent residents from countries that aren't in the ESTA program, so flights that avoid the need to transit the US & therefore having to obtain a US Visa would do well.

That would make a case for YVR.

Furthermore if you are going to fly to central America I would choose PTY as my destination and arrange an agreement with Copa. They have an expansive network throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. You could one-stop to Cuba, YYZ, KIN, and much of South America for that matter.

StarAC17 wrote:

melpax wrote:

Some Central/South American destinations might be a good fit for them, such as CUN & Bogata. Don't forget that both Australia & NZ have a lot of permanent residents from countries that aren't in the ESTA program, so flights that avoid the need to transit the US & therefore having to obtain a US Visa would do well.

That would make a case for YVR.

FJ already serves YVR.

I would have guessed maybe LAS? So many Pacific islander people living in Las Vegas.
Also Mexico City would have been another Latin American destination I would have thought they would consider since it is the busiest airport in Latin America.

Hmm, if their plan is to shuttle connections between NA and Australia/NZ along with some O&D, ORD might make more sense. I only assume that Chicago has more demand to Fiji that Dallas, although that may be negligible. Qantas already offers service to DFW, so I do wonder how willing AA would be to split their connections with Qantas, and with Qantas buzzing to start service to ORD, maybe FJ is trying to beat them to it. Still, if American will work with them on connections, DFW wins here.

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

eta unknown wrote:

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

I agree, while transit traffic plays a role the main objective is Tourism to Fiji for FJ. Perhaps ORD is more likely then?

I would imagine these additional A350s will replace 2 A330s as well.

DKNEF wrote:

I would have guessed maybe LAS? So many Pacific islander people living in Las Vegas.
Also Mexico City would have been another Latin American destination I would have thought they would consider since it is the busiest airport in Latin America.

No, LAS is the 9th island, we have Hawaiians, not fijians. The Fijian population in the US is small, about 75,000, the largest group (just over 11,000) are in the Sacramento area.

I mean this with no disrespect but is Fiji even on North Americans radar? They already have very well established beach destinations in Hawaii, the Carribean and Mexico which would be much more top of mind I would think.

Fiji is stunning but it is a well established / well known destination for Australians & New Zealanders and it's close to home. Starting a route is one thing, doing it without significant marketing to stimulate awareness/demand to fill those flights with good yields is another. FJ aren't big

Of course it is! FJ has been flying to LAX for ages and have you not noticed the Fiji water in the supermarket?

Velocity7 wrote:

I mean this with no disrespect but is Fiji even on North Americans radar? They already have very well established beach destinations in Hawaii, the Carribean and Mexico which would be much more top of mind I would think.

Fiji is stunning but it is a well established / well known destination for Australians & New Zealanders and it's close to home. Starting a route is one thing, doing it without significant marketing to stimulate awareness/demand to fill those flights with good yields is another. FJ aren't big

Australians and New Zealanders are by far the largest cadre to visit Fiji every year, but Americans are easily the 3rd largest group, and Canadians in the top ten. The rest are east Asians.

eta unknown wrote:

Of course it is! FJ has been flying to LAX for ages and have you not noticed the Fiji water in the supermarket?

The water is reason enough not to go lol. JK. Not a fan of the Fiji water

This is definitely part of the trend of Americans starting to venture international for leisure on a larger scale. We've seen additions like Bergen, Malaga, Canaries, Azores, and Iceland from the US carriers. FJ is just trying to get a slice of the pie.

Fiji/FJ, as least pre Covid, were starting a huge marketing push in the US to raise awareness and increase tourism.

There was an interview way back earlier in the year with the CEO, where he actually discussed making LAX double daily...
If he was willing to do that, then it's safe to say that there must be at least some reasonable demand between Fiji and the US.
Cargo on their A350's is apparently a really important operation for them too (especially when compared to the limited space available for cargo on their A330's).

https://www.hotelmanagement.com.au/2022 ... rformance/

JJWess wrote:

There was an interview way back earlier in the year with the CEO, where he actually discussed making LAX double daily...
If he was willing to do that, then it's safe to say that there must be at least some reasonable demand between Fiji and the US.
Cargo on their A350's is apparently a really important operation for them too (especially when compared to the limited space available for cargo on their A330's).

https://www.hotelmanagement.com.au/2022 ... rformance/

The west coast is where the bulk of demand is to Fiji, I would have said additional SFO and build YVR maybe seasonal increases to LAX where they have wide body capacity would make the most sense.

Kent350787 wrote:

JJWess wrote:

I'm surprised they haven't considered any direct flights to India from Fiji given the ancestral ties?
A350 aircraft could definitely make it.

Given the Australian market is challenging for India flights in the absence of an obvious O&D hub in India it’s difficult to see how FJ could make it work even with those ancestral ties.

That’s not an entirely accurate assumption.

Indians in Fiji and Indians in Australia are two completely different people.

Indians currently living in Australia have a lot of direct ties with their friends and family back in India. That fact coupled with a growing demand for students, tourists and skilled workers has seen Qantas commence nonstop flights to Delhi and Bengaluru, while Air India has increased their Sydney and Melbourne flights to daily, compared to pre-pandemic.

Whereas, Indians in Fiji are descendants of indentured labourers brought to work in Fiji by the British from the mid-19th Century onwards. They have very little ancestral ties to the country they originated from, and have developed a completely different Fijian Indian identity of their own. These people have mainly settled in places like Australia, NZ, Canada etc - which FJ already serves quite well.

SEA makes sense, as AS can feed overflow from Western Canada (YYC/YEG/YVR) on days when NAN-YVR is not operating. That, plus it means Oneworld flights throughout the journey. ORD can also work, for connections from US East Coast/YYZ/YUL on AA.

IceCream wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

Polot wrote:

No, they only fly to HNL, LAX, and SFO in the US. You might be thinking of Air Tahiti Nui who recently started SEA.

Yep, Air Tahiti just started. I hope they are doing good on the route. I would not be shocked if Air Fiji isn't kicking numbers for SEA though. We have a huge Islander population here. Not to mention, it's a money maker during cruise season.

How about LAS?

Hmm especially with the AS/AA tie up I could see DFW and/or SEA. But otherwise does Fiji really have that much demand? I couldn't see anything else working.

YYZflyboy wrote:

SEA makes sense, as AS can feed overflow from Western Canada (YYC/YEG/YVR) on days when NAN-YVR is not operating. That, plus it means Oneworld flights throughout the journey. ORD can also work, for connections from US East Coast/YYZ/YUL on AA.

IceCream wrote:

F9Animal wrote:

Yep, Air Tahiti just started. I hope they are doing good on the route. I would not be shocked if Air Fiji isn't kicking numbers for SEA though. We have a huge Islander population here. Not to mention, it's a money maker during cruise season.

How about LAS?

Hmm especially with the AS/AA tie up I could see DFW and/or SEA. But otherwise does Fiji really have that much demand? I couldn't see anything else working.

If Seattle made sense it would have been mentioned by the CEO.

eta unknown wrote:

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

kordcj wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

1 flight just before XMAS isn't a good example at all... Do the same experiment in FEB after AU/NZ school holidays have finished.

Also many of those "transit" passengers may be going on to NZ/Aust. but will be stopping on their return to Nth America for a week in the sun to end their Sth Pacific holiday.

NTLDaz wrote:

YYZflyboy wrote:

SEA makes sense, as AS can feed overflow from Western Canada (YYC/YEG/YVR) on days when NAN-YVR is not operating. That, plus it means Oneworld flights throughout the journey. ORD can also work, for connections from US East Coast/YYZ/YUL on AA.

IceCream wrote:

Hmm especially with the AS/AA tie up I could see DFW and/or SEA. But otherwise does Fiji really have that much demand? I couldn't see anything else working.

If Seattle made sense it would have been mentioned by the CEO.

Maybe. Sometimes the CEO will throw a surprise here and there. I can't tell you how many times a CEO suggested a new city, only to announce something totally different months later.

FJ through DFW if code-shared/endorsed by AA/QF would be another lower cost route from Australia to North America for passengers willing to make 2 stops to get (NAN and DFW) to get to AU/NZ. HA has successfully done this from other US cities by offering a similar hard product and a lower price in Y and J. For Y, stopovers may be preferable for people to stretch. Any carrier that can provide a lower cost option between US and AU/NZ with a comparable hard amd soft product could be very appealing, as Australia has gotten ridiculously expensive. Having flown DFW-Australia a lot, I have done Qatar on the return before saving half the business class fare — and several others on the flight were doing same. Leave east coast AU at night and arrive DFW same time QF nonstop that leaves the following lunch time (meaning getting to airport in the morning anyway), so not that much time lost for an excellent business class seat/service at half the QF price.

ConciergeKeyz wrote:

FJ through DFW if code-shared/endorsed by AA/QF would be another lower cost route from Australia to North America for passengers willing to make 2 stops to get (NAN and DFW) to get to AU/NZ. HA has successfully done this from other US cities by offering a similar hard product and a lower price in Y and J. For Y, stopovers may be preferable for people to stretch. Any carrier that can provide a lower cost option between US and AU/NZ with a comparable hard amd soft product could be very appealing, as Australia has gotten ridiculously expensive. Having flown DFW-Australia a lot, I have done Qatar on the return before saving half the business class fare — and several others on the flight were doing same. Leave east coast AU at night and arrive DFW same time QF nonstop that leaves the following lunch time (meaning getting to airport in the morning anyway), so not that much time lost for an excellent business class seat/service at half the QF price.

The problem, as I mentioned earlier, is that FJ is not particularly low cost. What you suggest is great for consumers but terrible for FJ, which is a big reason why FJ primarily focuses on O&D on the first place with less emphasis on connections across NAN. Then even if the route is marginal at the very least they can justify it with the passengers spending significant time in Fiji contributing to the economy.

kordcj wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

My experience was the complete opposite, when I flew FJ910 SYD-NAN, which is the flight that is timed to connect with LAX and SFO. Only about a dozen or so passengers, went to flight connections.

I've typically seen FJ oout of LAX selling business class for MUCH less than Qantas. It's been thousands of dollars less, which is material. FJ is not an LCC, but Qantas is a premium-priced carrier. Australia traffic has a lot of leisure traffic and people who want to fly biz class for personal flights due to length, so a lower cost J is attractive. HA has done this well. My employer had a Qantas contract and corp travel would still always also offer a much lower-priced HA business class flight via HNL. FJ also started to appear more with similar incentives. My schedule was tight so the QF (and then AA) nonstops were justifiable, but FJ was definitely in the mix for a lot less. I did not want to fly their A330/product (then) that far over open water, but the A350 option would be more compelling.

The farther east you go in Canada and US the more you compete with the Caribbean. I'll put money on Seattle due to the partnership with Alaska.

RyanairGuru wrote:

kordcj wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

The FJ role, as dictated by the Fijian Govt., is to promote tourism to Fiji. AU/NZ connecting traffic to North America is secondary, so I doubt any new route would be launched with transit traffic as a main objective.

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

My experience was the complete opposite, when I flew FJ910 SYD-NAN, which is the flight that is timed to connect with LAX and SFO. Only about a dozen or so passengers, went to flight connections.

Same here- I've flown to LAX with FJ 5 times and never seen more than 30 transit pax.

eta unknown wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

kordcj wrote:

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

My experience was the complete opposite, when I flew FJ910 SYD-NAN, which is the flight that is timed to connect with LAX and SFO. Only about a dozen or so passengers, went to flight connections.

Same here- I've flown to LAX with FJ 5 times and never seen more than 30 transit pax.

Could stopovers possibly explain why more passengers "get off" on the outbound route vs. the return?
I have friends in Australia and when they travel they always do multiple stops. It seems like when they come to the U.S. or Europe they never just go to one place. Last time for example they combined a trip to Peru on the way to the U.S. and then flew straight back to Australia. I don't know if they are the exception of if that's generally something Australians like to do.

ConciergeKeyz wrote:

I did not want to fly their A330/product (then) that far over open water, but the A350 option would be more compelling.

Why not the A330, if I may ask, considering they are both twin-engine aircraft?

Vicenza wrote:

ConciergeKeyz wrote:

I did not want to fly their A330/product (then) that far over open water, but the A350 option would be more compelling.

Why not the A330, if I may ask, considering they are both twin-engine aircraft?

Upfront it was 2-2-2 seating with angled layflats, it's now 1-2-1 with full layflats.

Economy as far as I know is the same product.

eta unknown wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

kordcj wrote:

I wouldn’t be so sure using my 1 flight as an example. Came in on FJ811 from LAX this week. A very full A350 and in the customs/entry line from that flight there couldn’t have been more than 75 people including me. The transit line was out the door and doubled over from earlier flights. I’ve encountered very few Americans this visit, but a lot of American-Australians to my surprise as well as Kiwis. Again my 1 flight isn’t precedent, but could probably be used as a good indicator of US-NAN traffic flows.

My experience was the complete opposite, when I flew FJ910 SYD-NAN, which is the flight that is timed to connect with LAX and SFO. Only about a dozen or so passengers, went to flight connections.

Same here- I've flown to LAX with FJ 5 times and never seen more than 30 transit pax.

I've flown to the US twice on FJ. I was quite surprised how few seemed to be transiting. Both times there seemed to be an awful lot of Americans on the flight.

NAN as a transit hub is a mixed bag honestly.
Because QF are still yet to return to SFO, FJ’s SFO flights have actually been taking a lot more transit traffic and have thus been pretty full this year. As it’s a codeshared flight with QF, it’s what QF seems to be putting a lot of its passengers on. So, unless you’re with velocity/happy to go United, you still need to stop along the journey anyway if you want to book with QF.
Surprisingly, they still haven’t made that route daily.

But that aside, I agree that FJ shouldn’t focus on trying to become a transit hub. I actually feel that if anything, AKL is well positioned to be more of a transit hub in the pacific due to NZ’s much larger reach/network and their ability to sustain such routes.

When I was flying to Fiji back in 2019 it was almost like it had been rediscovered by Americans. I had friends who were talking about the islands every chance they had.

I'm sure shows like Survivor and the eco challenge had something to do with that. But part of it was also, it was somewhere different, if you've done okay in life and live on the west coast, Hawaii is somewhere you've been a few times, Tahiti, same story, people look for new adventures, but not having to make 4 connections and having 5 star resorts is a huge advantage.

As I said before, I love the Fijian people, their islands and their island.

airbazar wrote:

eta unknown wrote:

RyanairGuru wrote:

My experience was the complete opposite, when I flew FJ910 SYD-NAN, which is the flight that is timed to connect with LAX and SFO. Only about a dozen or so passengers, went to flight connections.

Same here- I've flown to LAX with FJ 5 times and never seen more than 30 transit pax.

Could stopovers possibly explain why more passengers "get off" on the outbound route vs. the return?
I have friends in Australia and when they travel they always do multiple stops. It seems like when they come to the U.S. or Europe they never just go to one place. Last time for example they combined a trip to Peru on the way to the U.S. and then flew straight back to Australia. I don't know if they are the exception of if that's generally something Australians like to do.

It’s so far to get anywhere from the major Australian cities that Aussies do combine trips - 4 weeks annual holiday also help.

For east coast Australians Fiji is a major tourism destination, with a similar flight time as the NE US to the Caribbean. Other than pure $, FJ makes little sense as a transit for the US west coast, DFW slightly more so

FJ looks set to bring in two new A350’s in July;

https://www.fijivillage.com/news/There- ... ka-5f8rx4/

JJWess wrote:

FJ looks set to bring in two new A350’s in July;

https://www.fijivillage.com/news/There- ... ka-5f8rx4/

Interesting, it was first mentioned almost 12 months ago, and denied by FJ. I am guessing these will replace 2 A332s which are 10 years old this year, are they 10 year leases? There were 2 other A332s leased pre covid which they returned, they are 3 A332s in the fleet now. And will we see a new destination which has been rumoured, mainly US, or maybe ICN?

ZK-NBT wrote:

JJWess wrote:

FJ looks set to bring in two new A350’s in July;

https://www.fijivillage.com/news/There- ... ka-5f8rx4/

Interesting, it was first mentioned almost 12 months ago, and denied by FJ. I am guessing these will replace 2 A332s which are 10 years old this year, are they 10 year leases? There were 2 other A332s leased pre covid which they returned, they are 3 A332s in the fleet now. And will we see a new destination which has been rumoured, mainly US, or maybe ICN?

I do recall hearing the CEO talk about bringing the A350’s in to replace the A330’s in a not-to-long ago interview (maybe Sam Chui’s?)

But if they get rid of 2 A330’s, then I’m not sure how they’ll grow the network as the A350’s coming in will have to take over YVR/SFO flying

FJ is also 49% owned by QF I believe. I doubt QF want them competing too much with their own nonstops.

JJWess wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

JJWess wrote:

FJ looks set to bring in two new A350’s in July;

https://www.fijivillage.com/news/There- ... ka-5f8rx4/

Interesting, it was first mentioned almost 12 months ago, and denied by FJ. I am guessing these will replace 2 A332s which are 10 years old this year, are they 10 year leases? There were 2 other A332s leased pre covid which they returned, they are 3 A332s in the fleet now. And will we see a new destination which has been rumoured, mainly US, or maybe ICN?

I do recall hearing the CEO talk about bringing the A350’s in to replace the A330’s in a not-to-long ago interview (maybe Sam Chui’s?)

But if they get rid of 2 A330’s, then I’m not sure how they’ll grow the network as the A350’s coming in will have to take over YVR/SFO flying

Yes there is also HKG/NRT to grow again to. Like I say they had 2 extra A330s pre covid they returned.

smi0006 wrote:

FJ is also 49% owned by QF I believe. I doubt QF want them competing too much with their own nonstops.

Own non stops to where? I don’t think QF have any control on what FJ actually do.

ZK-NBT wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

FJ is also 49% owned by QF I believe. I doubt QF want them competing too much with their own nonstops.

Own non stops to where? I don’t think QF have any control on what FJ actually do.

I mean QFs AU-US non stops. Not sure how much control QF have in day to day running, but surely they must have a seat on the board and support the strategic direction?

Fully agree - the connecting traffic is a none core market for FJ.

DFW sounds like an exciting market huge connections from AA. Hope FJ don’t expand too much too fast and bite off more than they can chew - how is accomodation in Fiji, hotel capacity needs to match airline capacity. That’s the current issue in Rarotonga- demand is there, airlines will fly there, but accomodation limits the size of the market

smi0006 wrote:

ZK-NBT wrote:

smi0006 wrote:

FJ is also 49% owned by QF I believe. I doubt QF want them competing too much with their own nonstops.

Own non stops to where? I don’t think QF have any control on what FJ actually do.

I mean QFs AU-US non stops. Not sure how much control QF have in day to day running, but surely they must have a seat on the board and support the strategic direction?

Fully agree - the connecting traffic is a none core market for FJ.

DFW sounds like an exciting market huge connections from AA. Hope FJ don’t expand too much too fast and bite off more than they can chew - how is accomodation in Fiji, hotel capacity needs to omatch airline capacity. That’s the current issue in Rarotonga- demand is there, airlines will fly there, but accomodation limits the size of the market

Not sure if QF have a seat on the board?

I would think FJ have a reasonable amount of connecting traffic from OZ/NZ-US particularly with more WLG/CHC services, partly NZ not flying those routes this year to.

AI think they mentioned DFW/ORD a while back, they said NYC was to far for their A350, DFW seems like 99% connections while ORD seems to me a little more likely. I don’t know though really as outside the west coast the market would shrink very quickly.

Correct, FJ is not really in the market for connections. I flew SYD-LAX with them. The SYD-NAN leg was delayed like 4 hours, so the LAX connection was missed. There were only 3 people forced to overnight in Fiji (not the worst thing in the world)

Fiji vs Raro, Fiji population is 950,000, the Cook Islands are 18,000. The Hotel difference is night and day (I’ve been to Raro a half dozen times. Hope it doesn’t change, love it as it is)