Saturday 3 October 2020

Airbus Updates No.2860

 

Fiji Airways To Celebrate Independence Day With $140 A350 Flight To Nowhere

October 10th marks Fiji’s 50th Independence Day. As one of Fiji Airways’ new A350s is due for its “ready for flight” spin, the carrier has decided to take the opportunity to commemorate the occasion with a special scenic tour. All proceeds will go to the Fiji Cancer Society.

Fiji Airways
Fiji will operate its new A350 on a scenic flight-to-nowhere while collecting funds for charity. Photo: Airbus.

The latest in the line of commercial airlines to hop on the flight-to-nowhere trend is Fiji Airways. The South Pacific carrier announced today that it will be operating a 90-minute flight from Nadi Aiport to commemorate Fiji’s 50th Independence Day on October 10th.

Fiji Airways is making use of the occasion to fulfill its fleet’s ready-for-flight storage requirements. The special scenic flyover will be operated by one of the airline’s brand new A350s.

A charitable cause

While the flight itself may return to the same destination from where it took off, proceeds will go to the Fiji Cancer Society (FCS). Rather than taking the chance to generate some extra revenue, the airline is making the 60 seats on board the flight available in exchange for donations.

Funds collected will be used in the fight against breast cancer, cases of which have been escalating in Fiji over the past decade. Several special activities will also be held pre-flight and onboard to raise awareness of the disease and how it affects Fijians.

Seat allocations for the flight are as follows:

  • 10 business class window seats for a donation of FJ$ 500 (US$233) each.
  • 20 business class middle seats for a donation of FJ$ 400 (US$188) each.
  • 30 Bula Space economy class seats for a donation of FJ$ 300 (US$141) each.
Fiji Airways Fiji Airways Airbus A350 XWB 900 underside
The A350 will have a camera sending live feeds to its IFE screens. Photo: Getty Images

Special live feed and low-altitude flyover

The flight will take the donating guests on a tour around Fiji and some of its major towns and islands. A camera mounted on the underside of the fuselage will feed live views to all of the plane’s IFE screens.

A very rare low flyover around Albert Park in the capital of Suva is planned; however, this will be subject to weather conditions on the day. As a bit of extra trivia, Albert Park was the site were Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith landed on a stopover during the first transpacific flight from the US to Australia in 1928.

DQ-FAJ ready for flight

The aircraft operating the special scenic tour is one of Fiji Airways’ two brand new Airbus A350s, DQ-FAJ. The carrier only took delivery of the plane as late as December last year. Due to the unforeseen events of colossal magnitude, it is yet to see much airtime. It is currently stored in the airline’s short-term “ready for flight” storage program.

Short-term storage requires periodic planned flights to ensure that the aircraft is ready to return to commercial service on short notice. As the jet in question was scheduled for its ready-for-action check early this month, Fiji Airways decided to use it for a good cause, rather than go for a bit of extra revenue, which we find highly commendable.


credit:  simpleflying.com

No comments:

Post a Comment

Total Pageviews

Airbus Updates No.4252

  Air Arabia Maroc to wet-lease two A320s Air Arabia Maroc  (3O,  Casablanca Mohamed V ) will wet-lease two  A320-200 s from  Canada Jetline...

Airbus Blogs

Blog Archive

Top 10 Award

Airbus Blogs

Labels