In an interview with Karryon at the time of his appointment as the new Fiji Airways Managing Director and CEO, Paul Scurrah stressed the importance of maintaining the “incredible momentum” the carrier had built under predecessor, Andre Viljoen’s successful long reign. Five months later, the next chapter is less about maintaining momentum and more about sharpening the strategy. Karryon‘s Mark Harada reports from the Fiji Tourism Exchange 2026.
Australia will undoubtedly play a key role in the carrier’s master plan.
While the country represents Fiji Airways’ largest overseas market, Scurrah says “the numbers were a bit flatter than they should have been” last year.
“So I think Fiji missed out on getting its share of the growth that we saw with international travel out of Australia,” Scurrah tells Karryon during an interview at the 2026 Fiji Tourism Exchange (FTE).
But he adds that this represents an opportunity.
One such opportunity would be a possible link with the soon-to-open Western Sydney International Airport.
“Of course, Western Sydney will obviously be something we will need to consider very strongly,” he says.
“There’s been no decisions on that front yet, but we’re very interested [in it].”
However, WSI isn’t the only new Aussie destination the carrier would consider flying to.
“There’s a number of different ports in Australia that are of interest to us,” he states.
As a former CEO of Virgin Australia (in 2019-20), Scurrah knows his stuff – and he highlights Australia’s “secondary airports” as particularly appealing.
“The so-called secondary airports in Australia, for me, present a very good opportunity for us; where we can provide a direct link into Fiji for parts of the country that had historically needed to have a one-stop via one of their main gateways. And importantly, it also provides a one-stop opportunity to go to North America or Asia,” he explains.
But before it takes off to any new Aussie ports, its immediate priority is to “fill our planes more than we have been doing” and focus on confirmed destinations like the Gold Coast, which was announced late last year.
“What I’m looking at right now is how we make work… what we’ve got currently in our market – so how do we make sure Canberra, Cairns and Adelaide are really firing?” the Fiji Airways boss says.
While forward bookings on the new Nadi-Gold Coast flights are “looking quite healthy”, there’s more potential across all of Australia right now.
“Australia is a market where I think we need to remind those interested in a beach, sun holiday – particularly in the environment we’re in at the moment – how much closer and easier Fiji is for that version of a holiday. And so certainly that’s something we’re going to be honing in on very sharply,” Scurrah says.
And that’s especially important given the rise and rise of rival holiday hotspots, like in Southeast Asia.
What’s more, sun, sea and sand-seeking Aussies could soon have more of Fiji to fly to.
During FTE 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism Minister Viliame Gavoka confirmed that the government was conducting a feasibility study to add a new airport on the secluded Yasawa Islands.
Crucially, that new airport would have the capacity to welcome larger aircraft – like FJ’s new 68-seater ATR 72 – that current airstrips in the Yasawas can’t handle.
Other Fijian airports are also in line for upgrades as part of a master plan for aviation.
With this in mind, Scurrah says Fiji’s national carrier has “a lot of latent demand to some of the more beautiful, more obscure parts of Fiji”.
“Air capacity is incredibly essential to at least help that germinate into something successful. So I was really pleased to hear that and other airports in the group are earmarked for upgrades.”
Airfares up
And the FJ MD expects overall demand to continue, despite headwinds from conflict in the Middle East, which has raised fuel costs.
“We have pushed our fares up to offset the increase in fuel, but we haven’t yet seen any dampening of demand as a result of that. At the moment, our forward bookings are very healthy,” Scurrah notes.
While the airline may still need to make some “unpopular decisions”, the Australian says he’d rather “have that debate and keep the tourists coming in than shut a route down”.
There’s also an upside to the volatility that’s occurring in fuel prices.
“For our [core] source markets, we are closer and easier – and that’s never been more important. This is an opportunity for us to grab and promote Fiji to more people than otherwise would have shown interest in coming to or through Fiji,” Scurrah says at FTE.
He’s also quick to point out that higher fares are “an issue that’s affecting the whole industry”.
“So it’s not one that’s isolated to us as an airline. And every airline in the world is taking whatever measures they have to take in order to recover cost.”
Seats, stopovers & stories (through food)
In 2025, Fiji Airways carried 2.3 million passengers, which is 4% higher than the previous year. This was led by 16% growth in business class sales and an 8% rise in My Bubble bookings, which allow economy guests to bid for the seat next to them at a discounted rate.
The carrier is also seeing “strong” growth in Fiji stopovers, which is up 3% year on year.
“More travellers are choosing Fiji as a tropical pause between the long-haul journeys,” Scurrah remarks.
“In partnership with Tourism Fiji and our operators, we’ve launched a dedicated stopover program to capitalise on this, which [exempts] stays under 48 hours from departure taxes.”
These packages include transfers, guaranteed early check-in or late check-out, meal inclusions and options for cultural or adventure experiences.
Last year, the carrier also unveiled its new “Pacific Rim” menus.
“Our new business class menu, inspired by the flavours of the Pacific Rim region, delivers restaurant-quality dining at 35,000 feet. We’ve also introduced dine-on-demand for our longer-haul flights, giving business class guests the flexibility to dine when it suits them,” Scurrah says.
It also introduced “signature cocktails” featuring distilled Blue Turtle Gin among other locally sourced products.
“All of these little details tell a story about Fiji,” the Fiji Airways head says.
And there are some “exciting initiatives” coming soon around passenger and crew wellness, though the Australian can’t disclose their details.
“There is a soft product. There is a program coming soon, which is quite exciting and unique to Fiji Airways,” he explains.
Getting happy
In the meantime, the Australian says his mission is clear: to “position Fiji Airways as the world’s happiest airline”.
The carrier unveiled this vision in late 2025, and it’s a two-way proposition – to have “not just happy people working for us, but the happiest customers”.
“This happiness is not something that we manufacture. It already lives within our people, and my role is simply to ensure that every guest feels that warmth at every touch point throughout their journey with us as an airline,” Scurrah explains at FTE.
And if recognition is a sign of a happy airline, it is working.
“If we’re not growing and we’re not evolving, we will quickly be left behind, and the last 12 months have been truly transformational,” Scurrah says.
“One of the highlights was being awarded the APEX World Class Airline for 2026, one of the highest honours in global aviation, and we are the smallest airline by fleet size to ever achieve this accolade. Talk about punching above our weight.”
Fiji Airways is getting used to that.
Karryon is reporting live from Fiji Tourism Exchange 2026, which is taking place at the Sheraton Fiji Golf & Beach Resort. Stay tuned for more from the event.
The writer is a guest of Tourism Fiji.
