1 April 2021: Fiji Airways, Fiji’s National Airline, today confirmed the acceptance of return-to-service requirements of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft by its regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF). CAAF’s acceptance and approval follows that of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia and the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ), two of Fiji Airways’ key destinations.

Mr Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways Managing Director and CEO said: “We have followed and worked closely with CAAF, CASA, CAANZ and the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) over the past two years in relation to the safe return of the MAX aircraft. The past eight months have been spent planning for the aircraft’s eventual re-certification and reviewing all return-to-service requirements from our regulators. I am proud of our prior investment in mandatory training for our pilots in a Full Flight Simulator for the 737 MAX, over and above the minimum requirements when we initially introduced the aircraft into our fleet.”

“Everyone at Fiji Airways, including our pilots and technical crew have complete confidence in the safety of the MAX, given the intense scrutiny, thousands of test flights and necessary upgrades made to the aircraft over numerous months. Safety and care for our customers and staff remain our highest and unrelenting priority.”

Mr Viljoen confirmed that the Full Flight Simulator at the Fiji Airways Aviation Academy was already being used to bring its pilots and technical crew up to speed with all the new and additional requirements following the re-certification of the MAX aircraft.

He added: “We will continue to work with our regulators to bring the MAX aircraft into service, albeit for the limited number of freight and repatriation flights we currently operate.”

Fiji Airways will also make relevant information for customers about its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on its website in due course.

Globally, 18 airlines have already returned the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft to service. These include LOT Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada, WestJet, American Airlines and GOL. Between the lifting of the MAX suspensions in various countries and March 23, 2021, the MAX fleet globally has operated 14,214 revenue flights over 31,179 flight hours.