Air Pacific To Start Flights to The Cooks

something of a start........

FIJI AIRLINE TO BEGIN COOK ISLANDS ROUTE
Air Pacific plans weekly flights to Rarotonga

MELBOURNE, Australia (Radio Australia, May 26, 2010) – Fiji's international airline Air Pacific is expected to begin weekly flights between Rarotonga and Fiji in December.

The airline says its working with flight schedules to link the proposed flights to the Australia-Rarotonga route, which begins in July, and with flights between Fiji and Hong Kong, to attract more visitors from Europe.

Cook Islands News reports those currently flying from Europe have to connect through London to reach the Cook Islands, adding up to five hours to their schedules.

The new link with Fiji will significantly reduce flying times.

Meanwhile, the New Zealand based low cost airline Pacific Blue has announced a fourth permanent weekly flight between Auckland and Rarotonga, starting in July.

It'll be interesting to see how the new Raro/Fiji link goes.

Air NZ used to have a weekly flight between the two, but cancelled it a while back because of lack of demand.

FINALLY!

Let's hope it lasts this time - apparently they did try that route a couple of years ago, but it was poorly timed (close to one of the coups resulting in a drop in tourism to Fiji, if I recall correctly) and didn't last long.

Air Pacific is really great.
Turned Fiji into a real hub for the western South Pacific already, and with this it would provide the only direct west-east link.