Fiji Airways, yesterday confirmed the acceptance of return-to-service re­quirements of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft by its regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF).

CAAF’s acceptance and approval follows that of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia and the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ), two of Fiji Airways’ key destinations.

Safe return

Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways Managing Di­rector and chief executive officer said: “We have followed and worked closely with CAAF, CASA, CAANZ and the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) over the past two years in relation to the safe return of the MAX air­craft.

“The past eight months have been spent planning for the aircraft’s eventual re-certi­fication and reviewing all return-to-service requirements from our regulators.

“I am proud of our prior investment in man­datory training for our pilots in a Full Flight Simulator for the 737 MAX, over and above the minimum requirements when we initial­ly introduced the aircraft into our fleet.

“Everyone at Fiji Airways, including our pilots and technical crew have complete con­fidence in the safety of the MAX, given the in­tense scrutiny, thousands of test flights and necessary upgrades made to the aircraft over numerous months.

“Safety and care for our customers and staff remain our highest and unrelenting prior­ity.”

Fiji Airways Aviation Academy

Mr Viljoen confirmed that the Full Flight Simulator at the Fiji Airways Aviation Acad­emy was already being used to bring its pi­lots and technical crew up to speed with all the new and additional requirements follow­ing the re-certification of the MAX aircraft.

He added: “We will continue to work with our regulators to bring the MAX aircraft into service, albeit for the limited number of freight and repatriation flights we currently operate.”

Fiji Airways will also make relevant infor­mation for customers about its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft on its website in due course.

Source: Fiji Airways

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