Fiji Airways, arguably the Pacific’s best airline. It is headquartered in Nadi and normally that’s where all its planes are kept when not flying, unfortunately, a looming cyclone is causing major problems for the airline.
As Fiji Airways battles with the obvious virus situation they have been faced with another one, a tropical five cyclone with winds exceeding 200km/h heading right for its hub of Nadi. Now as you know cyclones cause damage, quite major damage and considering a category five cyclone is the highest catorgey of the cyclone it’s fair to say Fiji Airways was a bit screwed if it didn’t act quickly with a high risk of planes being damaged or even blown away in the cyclone.
The airline has various small aircraft belonging to subsidy Fiji Link while the main airline owns a mix B737’s, A350’s and A330’s. They made the decision to store all Fiji Link aircraft and two of their 737’s at their hanger at Nadi, which has been bolted shut. The rest of the aircraft are either operating rescue flights or have been flown to Brisbane or Sydney for temporary storage. It’s an extraordinary step in an extraordinary time with the airline also battling with the global pandemic at the same time. The aircraft stored in Australia will return to Fiji once the cyclone has passed
Fiji’s Nadi hanger looking quite cosy at the moment full image credit