Stefan Pichler.
RACHNA LAL
Suva
Fiji Airways managing director/chief executive, Stefan Pichler, answered questions asked by the Fiji Sun following a press conference. The airline had announced an interline agreement with Etihad Airways.
Why choose Etihad Airways for interline agreement?
We wanted to add another global airline to our network because we get more leverage and more customers if we get another global airline. Etihad has a huge sales force in Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East etc.
Was a study conducted to see the viability of the deal?
Yes for example what we do is we look at potential source markets to Fiji. So let’s say for example we know that mainland Europe is growing strongly in terms of tourists to Fiji. Right now, with the existing partnerships, we do not cover mainland Europe like we want to cover. That’s why we look at people who fly there and are ready to cover us.
How does the interline agreement work?
Let’s say you are in Paris (France). Before, there was no fare to Fiji. But now we have a fare to Fiji. The fare will be sold by the Etihad sales team. So we will have these passengers from the 71 cities who from there will fly to Abu Dhabi then to Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne and then Fiji.
So what we do is we now offer Fiji in these markets and we do not have any cost. So it also grows the revenue pie. Because what happens now is the Etihad salesmen in Paris sells the ticket to Fiji and suddenly Etihad has somebody who flies Paris-Abu Dhabi-Sydney and then we have somebody who flies Sydney-Nadi.
So we both get additional revenue without any cost. But the only thing we have to ensure is that the fare is attractive because if it is too high, nobody will buy it and if it is too low, you will be losing money.