Joe McConnell
If Fiji is on your bucket list, there will soon be a new way to get there.
Fiji Airways announced Wednesday that it will begin a new nonstop flight from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Nadi International Airport (NAN) in Fiji. The carrier officially applied for approval to operate this new route with the U.S. Department of Transportation about a month ago.
The new three-weekly service will begin on December 10. Flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Flights from Dallas will depart at 9:55 p.m. and arrive in Fiji at 5:20 a.m. two days later. The eastbound flight from Fiji departs at 9:15 p.m. and arrives in Dallas at 3:20 p.m. the same day.
The airline will deploy a 334-seat Airbus A350-900 jet to Dallas. Fiji’s A350 is a competitive business-class product arranged in nine rows in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration.
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Every business class traveler will enjoy direct aisle access, as well as 17-inch TV screens, power outlets and USB ports.
Fiji’s A350s also feature 301 economy class seats, 39 of which offer extra legroom.
“The introduction of direct service between Fiji and Dallas is a truly exciting milestone for Fiji Airways, as we continue to increase Fiji’s connectivity to the United States and beyond, offering our guests more travel options,” Fiji Airways CEO Andre Viljoen said in a statement.
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Speaking of a truly exciting milestone, Fiji Airways’ new route will become the airline’s longest flight to date. At 6,625 miles, the Dallas-Nadi route is 760 miles longer than the airline’s current longest to Vancouver, British Columbia. (Flights will last approximately 13 hours.) Additionally, Dallas will become the airline’s fourth U.S. destination, joining Honolulu, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Fiji’s expansion comes just weeks after the airline announced it would adopt American Airlines’ AAdvantage loyalty program as its own. Travelers will be able to earn and redeem AAdvantage miles on all Fiji flights, and they will also enjoy reciprocal loyalty benefits for elite members. It’s also possible that American Airlines could launch system-wide reciprocal upgrade redemption on Fiji Airways flights.
In addition to AAdvantage news, Fiji Airways recently received approval to become the newest member of the Oneworld airline alliance by 2025. American Airlines is a founding member of this alliance.
Map observation: The award for the “sexiest new route” of the year goes to …
As the national carrier of Fiji, Fiji Airways’ primary mission is to increase tourism to the South Pacific archipelago. With the new DFW route, travelers can book hundreds of itineraries with stops from points in the United States to Fiji, likely increasing the appeal of a trip to Fiji for many U.S.-based travelers. This is especially true for East Coast-based passengers, who currently need to take a transcontinental flight to connect to a nonstop route from the United States to Fiji.
Additionally, Fiji Airways has historically leveraged its strategic location in the South Pacific to offer attractive fares for connections beyond Nadi to nearby destinations, including Australia and New Zealand. This new route could potentially lead to lower fares on key trans-Pacific routes.
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