Fiji Airways chief executive and managing director, Stefan Pichler at a press conference in Suva last Friday. Photo: RONALD KUMAR
By STEVE CREEDY, writing in Australia’s national newspaper, The Australian
Sydney – New Fiji Airways managing director/chief executive Stefan Pichler says he is not looking for a fare war on routes to Australia but steady growth in line with market opportunities.
Mr Pichler, a former Virgin Blue executive who most recently turned around Gulf carrier Jazeera Airways, is in the process of formulating a five-year plan for the recently rebranded airline that will include new aircraft and routes.
He said the plan, due to be completed by the end of the calendar year, would provide a network, fleet and maintenance strategy as well as plans for marketing and products.
It would look at boosting the airline’s connectivity through codeshare and interline agreements.
But he said he did not want to enter a battle for market share with Australian carriers.
“We want to have a good, continuous growth of tourism from Australia to Fiji,” he said.
“That’s it. We don’t want to have any price wars.”
“And, of course, Australia is the biggest source market of Fiji tourism,” he said “I think last year 51 per cent of the visitors to Fiji came from Australia. I think overall our footprint in Australia is good.”
Mr Pichler said he believed Fiji Airways, formerly Air Pacific and 46 per cent owned by Qantas, had a good service pattern into Australia with 26 flights a week, including two daily flights from Sydney, daily flights from Brisbane and a service to Melbourne.
It also had a good sales footprint in Australia, working with all the major retailers and wholesalers, as well an interline agreement with Qantas for destinations beyond the three it serviced itself.
While the airline’s Australian footprint could be improved, Mr Pichler said the partnership with Qantas “right now is working quite well”.
The airline chief said the current air services agreement between Fiji and Australia curtailed capacity and would need to be looked at when it expired in 2016, but this was a matter for government.
The airline had just started its rebranding exercise and the next phase would involve positioning and building up the brand.
“We will create a brand that is highly inspirational and Fiji as a brand is a global consumer brand,” he said, adding that the airline would also have to deliver on the brand.
This included developing operations that were consistent, provided good customer service, improved on-time performance and better dealings with outside suppliers.
It would also see an upgrade to management structures and processes.
The airline recorded a net profit of $F14.1 million for the year ended March 31, up from $F11.4m the previous year.