Fiji Airways

Is Fiji Airways safe?

Yes. Fiji Airways has no fatal accident in the Aviation Safety Network record, under its current name or as Air Pacific, and it has not written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary an aircraft in the 20 years we look at. It flies mostly new aircraft, Fiji holds the FAA's top rating and the airline passes IATA's safety audit. We score it 85.

The catch is how little we can see. Fiji Airways is a small airline, so a clean record over 20 years covers far fewer flights than at Qantas or Air New Zealand, and Fiji publishes few investigation reports. That keeps the score a few points below the best in the region.

The one accident: a hard landing in Sydney

On 18 March 2014 flight FJ911, an Airbus A330-200, landed hard at Sydney after the crew flared late. A cabin crew member had minor injuries. The aircraft then flew back to Nadi, where engineers found serious damage to the landing gear. It was repaired and returned to service. It is the only Fiji Airways accident in the 20-year window, and the fact that the damage was found only after another flight is the part we would most like to see an investigation report on.

Fiji's domestic routes have a harder history. An Air Fiji Bandeirante flew into high ground in 1999, killing all 17 aboard, and a Sunflower Airlines Heron crashed near Nadi in 1986. Both were domestic airlines, not Fiji Airways, and both crashes fall far outside our window.

What Fiji Airways flies

The fleet is small and mostly modern. In August 2024 Fiji Airways flew four Airbus A350-900s, three A330-200s, one A330-300, five Boeing 737 MAX 8s and one older 737-800 (ch-aviation). In July 2026 chief executive Paul Scurrah confirmed four A350s and five MAX 8s, and said the airline would grow over the next few years by flying its aircraft more hours, not by adding many new ones (CAPA).

The A330s are the oldest jets, from about 2013, and Scurrah said the airline aims to add one or two widebodies in two to four years. They are still a fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary type with a strong record. The fleet factor scores 80: young on the A350s and MAX 8s, average on the A330s.

Incidents and what we cannot see

The public incident record is short. AeroInside lists a 737 that could not raise its landing gear after take-off from Auckland in June 2016 because a ground safety pin had been left in, two 737 events over the Pacific in 2017 involving cabin pressure and the crew oxygen system, fumes on board at Nadi in 2015 and a bird strike at Christchurch in October 2025. None caused serious injury.

A short list is not proof of a clean record. Australian and New Zealand investigators publish everything, which is why Qantas and Air New Zealand incidents are so visible. The Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji publishes safety bulletins, but we found no section of published accident and incident reports. So we score incidents at 80, not higher.

Who checks Fiji Airways?

The Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji certifies the airline. Fiji is in FAA IASAFAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary Category 1 (April 2025), which means US inspectors found that it meets ICAO standards, and it has never had an airline on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. Fiji Airways is an IATA member, so it holds IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. Our oversight yardstick gives 84 for that combination and takes points off where the investigators publish few reports, which gives 80.

Fiji Link and the outer islands

Fiji Link, the trading name of Fiji Airlines Ltd, flies ATR 72-600s, an ATR 42-600 and Twin Otters from Nadi and Suva to the outer islands (ch-aviation, 2024), and Fiji Airways leased three more ATR 72-600s for delivery in 2024 and 2025. Its flights carry FJ numbers, but it is a separate company with its own fleet and a very different network of short island strips. We describe it here and do not score it; it has no accident in the ASN record since 2006.

Flying Fiji Airways

• Check the aircraft on Pacific routes. Flights to Australia and North America are on A350s or A330s; island routes are on 737 MAX 8s or, under Fiji Link, turboprops.
• Book around cyclone season. Tropical cyclones affect Fiji from about November to April. Delays and diversions are a safety choice, so allow a spare day before an onward long-haul flight.
• Keep your belt fastened over the Pacific. Convective storms near the equator mean sudden turbulence on long overwater flights.

How we scored it

The accident record (92) is the strongest factor, held below the mid-90s by the airline's small size and the 2014 hard landing. Oversight (80), incidents (80) and fleet (80) are solid, and the Pacific environment (78) costs the most. Compare Air Tahiti Nui at 89 and Air Niugini at 63.