25 Sep 2013

Fiji Airways CEO responds again to political parties' accusations

2:49 pm on 25 September 2013

The CEO of Fiji Airways has responded to accusations of a lack of transparency and accountability over the purchase of Airbus planes.

Stefan Pichler, who has recently taken up his position, gave an interview to Fiji newspapers after political parties accused the company of not being up front in its deals to buy the new planes.

Mr Pichler has confirmed the planes are new and not second-hand refurbished aircraft as was suggested by the leader of the Labour Party Mahendra Chaudhry.

He says he was not in the job when the decision was made to switch from Boeing to Airbus planes, but there are many advantages, including environmental ones.

"Changing the long-haul fleet from 747s to A330s, because the A330s burn considerably less fuel than the 747s which have four engines. So we have made a significant contribution. But nevertheless, we are looking into fuel-saving programmes etcetera to limit fuel burn and also in total to limit waste and emissions in general."

Stefan Pichler.