When Paul Scurrah relinquished the reins at Virgin Australia in late 2020, during the height of COVID-19, he could have been forgiven for wanting to close the book on his aviation career – we all know what happened to Virgin that year, but can only imagine what it would’ve been like to lead an airline.
However, five years later, after a break from aviation, the Australian is back at the helm of another airline – Fiji Airways. This time around, though, it’s an entirely different ballgame.
Under outgoing boss Andre Viljoen, the Fijian carrier’s profile grew massively, thanks to an aggressive expansion of new routes and aircraft, full membership of the Oneworld alliance, and numerous awards, including a Best Airline in Australia/Pacific gong in 2024.
According to Scurrah, “there’s incredible momentum” at the carrier – and his first goal is to “maintain the momentum”.
“Andre has done an incredibly good job with his team to really improve and grow Fiji Airways. It’s become award-winning, it’s joined Oneworld, and it’s got a new loyalty partner [American Airlines]. So my first goal is to make sure that I continue with that momentum,” Scurrah tells Karryon in an interview straight after his appointment.
That’s not to say Scurrah doesn’t have big plans for the airline.
“Of course, there are great growth prospects in the Asia Pacific region from an aviation perspective, which bodes well for Fiji as a country and for Fiji Airways,” he says.
“So my plan is to maintain the momentum, but also look for opportunities to grow further and to make sure that we cash in on the growth of aviation and really take advantage of the geographic location of Fiji.”
Those growth plans include its largest international market, Australia.
“I do see scope [for Australia], but everything needs to be backed by data – and I will assess, along with my team, how each route is going,” he said.
“We’ll have a look at where we might be able to expand into, but I do see that there’s real interest and growing interest in Fiji as a destination within Australia.
“I think it’s still got a lot of growth, from a tourism point of view, to come out of Australia, but also for any business traffic or any leisure traffic going through to North America.”
Scurrah says more long-haul destinations could be on the cards.
“I think there are a lot of destinations that we could look at that would be very popular,” he notes.
But given Fiji Airways is now part of Oneworld, the carrier can also work with partners to expand its network, which “will also be a high priority”.
Overall, the new FJ boss sees numerous growth opportunities, thanks to a burgeoning air travel market.
“If you look at the market between now and 2043, the predictions are that it will grow at 5% per year, every year, so there is growth there to be taken,” he says.
“The biggest challenge we’ll all have is getting enough aircraft to handle that.”
Tourism ties
As the front door to Fiji’s tourism industry, Fiji Airways will also look to work closely with Tourism Fiji to build upon interest in the country.
“Interest in Fiji as a destination is a key driver of our success. So I intend to make sure that’s a very strong relationship, very collaborative – and making sure that we’re working to help each other out,” Scurrah says.
“That also includes the broader industry as well. They are very reliant on our success, and that’s a responsibility we take really seriously.”
When it comes to trade relationships, Scurrah says “distribution partners globally will continue to play the important role they play today”.
“And I don’t intend to change any of that. In fact, I’d like to enhance it,” he states.
“I have the utmost respect for the role they can play, particularly in recommending tourism destinations. We are super reliant on them, and we will continue to partner with them. They are part of our growth plan.”
That’ll be music to agents’ ears, who currently enjoy a generous commission structure with the carrier.
Virgin takeaways
Despite leaving the Virgin role after around 18 months, Scurrah says there were plenty of lessons learned during what was the most difficult time in the airline’s history. He d
“What rang true… was just how important communication is – just how important listening to your people and your customers is,” he tells Karryon.
“But I think from a business perspective, what you learn – and this is well known about airlines… is that airlines need to make sure that they’re cost leaders.”
“So you need to make sure that you’re really disciplined around your approach to cost and secondly, that your balance sheet is really resilient in case something like that comes along.”
