Fiji Airways takes $50mn ADB loan, minister blasts Qantas

Fiji Airways (FJ, Nadi) will obtain a USD50 million loan from the Asian Development Bank, the archipelago nation’s economy minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, confirmed during a press conference on August 22. He also blasted shareholder Qantas for competing with the carrier and condemned negative recent media reports about the Fijian airline. Sayed-Khaiyum was speaking the day after Fiji Airways announced a FJD61.2 million Fijian dollar (USD28.7 million) profit before tax for the year ending December 31, 2019. As part of its full-year financial statement, the company said that it “increased passenger numbers by 2% despite the significant impact of Qantas commencing flights from Sydney Kingsford Smith to Nadi in March 2019.” “Qantas entered the market at the start of an already sluggish off-season period, and the resultant excess capacity negatively impacted yields. Loss of market share to Qantas, together with the drop in yields, dramatically reduced the profitability of our Australian operations, resulting in a negative impact on profitability of around FJD65 million [USD30.5 million].” Fiji Airways parent Air Pacific Group is owned by the Fijian government (51%) and Qantas (46.32%). Fiji Airways currently operates from Nadi to Sydney 2x weekly, according to the ch-aviation capacities module, but Qantas no longer operates to Fiji. “We as the largest shareholder were deeply concerned that the second-largest shareholder, which is Qantas, was actually competing with the very company in which it holds at least 46% of the shares. It’s actually unheard of,” Sayed-Khaiyum said at the press conference according to broadcaster FBC News. “It’s an airline which is far bigger, with far deeper pockets and a much bigger network throughout the world. Yet despite that, Fiji Airways was able to compete with them, recover from a [projected loss], and return a profit.”