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| Founded | 2006 | |||
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| Hubs | Nadi International Airport | |||
| Secondary hubs | Nausori International Airport | |||
| Fleet size | 6 | |||
| Destinations | 12 (See Below) | |||
| Company slogan | Best value under the Sun | |||
| Parent company | Air Pacific Limited | |||
| Headquarters | Nadi International Airport Nadi, Fiji |
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| Key people | Shaenaz Voss (General Manager) | |||
| Website | pacificsun.com.fj | |||
Fiji Airlines Limited, trading as Pacific Sun is an airline headquartered at the Pacific Sun office in the Civil Aviation Authority of the Fiji Islands (CAAFI) compound at Nadi International Airport in Nadi, Fiji.[1] It operates scheduled services to twelve destinations within the Fijian Islands as well as regionally within the Pacific Islands. They are a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiji's International carrier Air Pacific.
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Don Collingwood, a pilot and businessman, founded what became Pacific Sun in 1980, under the name Sunflower Airlines, which later changed to Sun Air. It began with a single Britten Norman BN2 Islander aircraft, flying the Nadi-Taveuni route. Other than the BN2 Islanders which remained the backbone of the fleet, the airline operated a wide range of piston and turboprop aircraft including the Beechcraft BE-95 Baron, Beechcraft A65 Queen Air, de Havilland DH.114 Heron, Shorts 330, and de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter. By January 2007 before official handover to Air Pacific, its fleet had grown to 12 aircraft, and the company employed nearly 140 staff.[2]
On 31 January 2007 Sun Air was sold and handed over to current parent company Air Pacific, which had to fight off legal challenge by the now-defunct rival domestic carrier at the time Air Fiji against the handover.[3] Air Pacific then established the domestic airline as Fiji Airlines Limited, trading as Pacific Sun. The airline began operations with eight aircraft, including the introduction of two ATR 42-500 aircraft purchased used from Air Mauritius, along with three existing BN2 Islanders and three DHC-6 Twin Otters. However, the fleet was cut back to just four between December 2010 and June 2011 due to economic cost cutting resulting in the withdrawal of the BN2 Islander fleet as well as one DHC-6 Twin Otter. [4] Two additional leased DHC-6 Twin Otters were added to the fleet during June 2011 to increase the Pacific Sun fleet to six aircraft. [5]
In late November 2010, Pacific Sun announced that due to current economical reasons, they were withdrawing their BN2 Islander fleet from service. This meant downsizing the Pacific Sun fleet from eight aircraft to just five.[6]
In early December 2010 Pacific, Pacific Sun announced the redundancy of 85 out of 210 employees. This includes staff from administrative, support and operations areas as well as 15 Pilots. Pacific Sun's general manager Jim Samson, explained that continuing operating losses had resulted in management having to make some tough decisions.
"Pacific Sun has lost, on average, $6 million per year over the last three years. Continued losses are unsustainable. Regrettably as a result, we have no alternative but to restructure the airline in order to ensure its viability and success going forward," he said.
Air Pacific chief executive officer and Pacific Sun board member David Pflieger said since Air Pacific's takeover in 2007, Pacific Sun has accumulated $18.5million in losses. Air Pacific had loaned $44million to purchase Sun Air's certificate and operations and two ATR-42 aircraft[7]
As of December 2010, Pacific Sun operates scheduled services to the following destinations:[8]
In June 2011, the Pacific Sun fleet included:[9]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers | Notes |
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