Fiji Airways: A350 Routes announced

Last week Fiji Airways announced that they were leasing two A350 planes to add to their fleet on routes from November/December 2019.

Yesterday (May 6, 2019), Airlineroute revealed when these A350 routes would be in service, and what they will be:-

Nadi – Los Angeles – 6 times a week from January 1, 2020:

• FJ810 Nadi to Los Angeles departing 9:40 pm arriving 11:25 am
• FJ811 Los Angeles to Nadi departing 9:30 pm arriving 6:00 am (+2 days)

Nadi – Sydney – daily from January 1, 2020:

• FJ911 Nadi to Sydney departing 9:30 am arriving 12:10 pm
• FJ910 Sydney to Nadi departing 1:25 pm arriving 7:20 pm

They will need two aircraft to service these two routes – so that would seem to be the two routes that will get the brand spanking new A350’s.

Fiji popular again

Fiji as a leisure destination has had a chequered history, recently complicated by natural disasters (Cyclone Winston in 2016) and political storms (military coup d’état and constitutional crisis). However, the islands seem to have calmed down recently, with airlines and hotel operators making major investments, including Qantas’s return to the route, and major hotel developments like Six Senses on Malolo Island.

Los Angeles via Fiji

For a long time you have been able to reach Los Angeles via Fiji – the perfect flop and drop layover. But now you can do it in style, on a brand spanking new A350, in business class with the Collins Airspace ‘Super Diamond’ design as the basis for their business class seating. This seat is also used by Qatar, Virgin Australia, Air Canada, and with the addition of a sliding door by British Airways for their new Club Suite.

Booking a trip to Los Angeles from Sydney

With these much more competitive planes, I would expect the prices to be less competitive than they used to be for their old recliner business class. Here are some sample fares in AU$:

But as you can see – the costs are quite competitive – especially if you don’t mind the stopover.

And here are the flight details for some sample dates

Booking with Points

Seats are a little far and few between. From Sydney to Nadi, you might get 2 seats, but my searches didn’t show any availability from Nadi to Los Angeles – at least fro the first month.

On the return leg – the opposite true, but with fewer seats. You might be lucky to get one seat on the Los Angeles to Nadi leg, but on most days there are zero. For the Nadi to Sydney leg, it tends to be worse, with none available:

I looked at dates through until March 2020 – and there are up to 4 business seats available on some days and on some legs, but you will have difficulty finding 2 seats on both legs on the return to Sydney.

Take out

This is a good option if you want a bit of a relaxing stopover in the extremely beautiful Fiji (people even more than landscape). Award availability is not good, but the price of a business class airfare is well below the average for the period. You can read my trip report here.

Bula!