Fiji Airways upbeat as it reports record profit

Fiji Airways upbeat as it reports record profit

Fiji Airways Group has reported a record profit of FLD$70.2 million for the 2015 financial year, with the airline confident the results are sustainable despite recent natural disasters.

The group’s profits rose 15.5%, with passenger numbers up 7.4% and revenue by 6.3%.

Fiji Airways managing director and chief executive Andre Viljoen was confident of the outlook for the airline, provided market demand rebounds following the recent tropical cyclone. Fuel also remains a factor.

“Aviation remains a volatile industry,” he said.

“The fuel price relief will not last, so we intend to maintain our cost-management discipline and focus.”

All international markets performed strongly for the Group, with the core markets of Australia and New Zealand delivering reasonable returns, with strong growth from Hong Kong and Los Angeles. Fiji Link’s regional and domestic services also contributed positively to the Group performance.

“2016 presents yet another year of opportunities and challenges,” Viljoen said.

“Three exciting new destinations are being added to our network, with our inaugural flight to Singapore commencing last week and San Francisco and Vava’u (Tonga) all coming online by June. This gives our already impressive network even more of a boost.”

By the end of this year, the group will count 50 destinations in 13 countries around the world including codeshare destinations – figures which Viljoen described as “pretty phenomenal for a small airline like ours”.

“There will undoubtedly be challenges, as Tropical Cyclone Winston has an impact on our forward bookings,” he admitted.

“But a number of initiatives are underway with the Tourism Action Group (TAG) to address these challenges.”

In 2016, Fiji Airways will seek a 4-star Skytrax service rating and embark on service training across the company with every team member to undergo a specially created Up! Your Service programme devised by service expert Ron Kaufman and his organisation.

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