Wednesday 15 August 2018: The Fiji Airways Group today welcomed its fourth brand new Viking DHC-6 Series 400 Twin Otter aircraft to the Fiji Link fleet. The addition of this aircraft results in a significantly reduced average aircraft age, making the National Carrier’s domestic subsidiary one of the youngest fleet in the world with an average aircraft age of just 1.8 years.

The aircraft touched down at Nadi International Airport at 5:45pm local time to a rousing welcome by Fiji Link and Fiji Airways staff. Speaking at the welcome event, Fiji Airways managing Director and CEO Andre Viljoen said the airline was proud to celebrate another milestone.

“This is a significant achievement for a domestic airline of a relatively small country. It’s a testament to us, yet again, punching above our weight. We are an airline who fly in some pretty challenging operating environments, and operate domestic schedules that require more frequencies.”

“The Twin Otter ticks both these boxes and thus has been our aircraft of choice for such versatility. It allows us to land on shorter airstrips and grass runways in many of our islands, such as Taveuni and Savusavu, and has enabled us to provide our passengers with more frequencies.”

The investment of four brand new Viking Twin Otter aircraft brings the airline full circle with its objective to modernise its domestic fleet, increase capacity, grow the network, and provide a better customer experience.

The aircraft comes with state of the art cabin comfort and cockpit functionalities, digital avionics systems and operating features.

Fiji Airways Engineering Teams will paint the new aircraft – registration DQ-FLA – in Fiji Link livery and complete the installation of all aircraft seats and interior furnishings over the next week. It features state of the art customer comforts, with brand new seats, air conditioning and modern avionics for a smoother flight.

The new aircraft is expected to enter commercial service by September.