5 Nov 2002

Fiji government to help Air Pacific buy more planes

11:42 am on 5 November 2002

The Fiji government will give the national airline, Air Pacific, nearly 2-million US dollars to help it buy a wide-bodied jet next year.

The Labour minister, Kenneth Zinck, says this is one of the ways the government will try to help ease the shortage of airline seats into Fiji.

Mr Zinck says Fiji is losing 100-thousand potential tourists each year because of the lack of sufficent flights.

He says tourism is bringing Fiji more than 500 US dollars a minute but the lack of hotel rooms and airline seats is hindering growth in the industry.

Air Pacific is planning to acquire four new jets over the next 18 months.