Brisbane Airport and Fiji Airways celebrate half a century of flights between Queensland and the South Pacific nation since Air Pacific first touched down at Eagle Farm Airport on 1 June 1973.
Carrying just 64 passengers from Suva to Brisbane Airport, Fiji Airways’ (formerly known as Air Pacific) historic flight FJ515 coincided with the first fleet of F-111s arriving at RAAF Base Amberley on the same day.
The following morning, FJ516 departed Brisbane for Suva at 09:15 with 50 passengers on board.
To commemorate the occasion, Brisbane Airport Corporation created a comparison of the 1973 versus 2023 flights using digitised film from the Seven News archive.
Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff congratulated Fiji Airways on 50 years of flying to BNE ahead of industry celebrations in the Queensland capital.
“Our mission is to connect the world and through our partnership with Fiji Airways, together we’ve connected millions of people from across the Pacific into Queensland,” he said.
“This is not only an important flight for tourists but also for the Pacific nations it connects to Australia for work, education and bringing together families and communities.
“We congratulate Fiji Airways on their magnificent milestone and look forward to the next 50 years of working together.”
Fiji is now the sixth-largest outbound market from Brisbane Airport. Fiji Airways currently operates eight services per week between Brisbane and Nadi, increasing to nine weekly flights in peak periods.
Read our review of Nadi International Airport here.
For more info, head to bne.com.au
