Fiji Airways has announced that it will be launching flights to Canada, marking the carrier’s third route to continental North America.
Fiji Airways launches Nadi to Vancouver route
As of November 25, 2022, Fiji Airways will launch 2x weekly flights between Nadi (NAN) and Vancouver (YVR). The route will operate on Mondays and Fridays with the following schedule:
FJ880 Nadi to Vancouver departing 10:15PM arriving 1:20PM
FJ881 Vancouver to Nadi departing 9:40PM arriving 5:30AM (+2 days)
The flight covers a distance of 5,865 miles, and is blocked at 11hr05min eastbound and 11hr50min westbound.
Fiji Airways will use an Airbus A330-200 for the service, featuring a total of 273 seats. That includes 24 (angled) business class seats and 249 economy class seats. Read my review of Fiji Airways’ A330 business class. Sadly the flight won’t be operated by Fiji Airways’ new A350s, which feature a much improved business class product.
This will be Fiji Airways’ only route to Canada, while the airline operates to three destinations in the United States, including Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), and Honolulu (HNL).
Fiji Airways is a partner of both Alaska Mileage Plan and American AAdvantage, so it should be possible to redeem those mileage currencies for this service.
I’m surprised Vancouver was chosen over Seattle
If Fiji Airways were to launch flights to Canada, Vancouver is the obvious choice. However, I’m a bit surprised the airline didn’t launch flights to Seattle instead:
- Air Tahiti Nui recently announced it would launch Tahiti to Seattle flights; obviously Fiji and Tahiti are somewhat different markets, but they’re both popular tourist destinations, and both airlines offer connectivity to other places in the South Pacific, like New Zealand
- Fiji Airways has a partnership with Alaska Mileage Plan, so Fiji Airways would have lots of feed there, while that won’t be the case in Vancouver; who knows, maybe an Air Canada Aeroplan partnership is imminent?
- With the USD being much stronger than the CAD, there’s often significantly more pricing power out of the United States rather than Canada, even though Vancouver is an affluent market
So I do find this decision to be curious. Or maybe Fiji Airways specifically chose Vancouver because Air Tahiti Nui chose Seattle, recognizing that the airlines do compete in some connecting markets (like Auckland).
Bottom line
Fiji Airways will be launching 2x weekly flights between Nadi and Vancouver as of late 2022, which will be the carrier’s only route to Canada. It’s great to see Fiji Airways expand, though admittedly 2x weekly frequencies is pretty limited capacity. Then again, for those traveling between the two cities, this cuts travel time significantly.
What do you make of Fiji Airways’ new Vancouver route?
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