Fiji Airways provides a link between the Fiji islands and the United States.
While the airline focuses on flights in the Oceania region, they do dominate the market between the U.S and Fiji.
The airline flies nonstop from four key departure cities throughout the USA. They also have codeshares with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines making travel accessible for American vacationers.
In this article we will discuss Fiji Airways’ routes between Fiji and the United States. We’ll talk about what to expect flying on Fiji Airways’. Finally, we’ll wrap up by providing our thoughts on the service between these two countries.
Who is Fiji Airways exactly?
Fiji Airways is the national flag carrier for the island nation of Fiji. Fiji is one of the islands between Australia and Hawaii. Fiji Airways serves the Fiji population of over 900,000 inhabitants. Connecting them to 27 destinations all around the world.
Much of the air travel to Fiji is tourism based. People from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand flock to the region on vacations. In 2024 alone, Fiji had 982,938 people visit the country. Bringing in over 524 million Fiji dollars. That is equal to 228 million U.S dollars.
Being an island nation means there are only two ways to get to the country abroad. You can either fly or arrive by boat. Fiji Airways plays a huge part in the international air travel scene for the country.
Fiji Airways has a hub at Nadi International Airport in Namaka. Namaka on the largest island in Fiji. From Nadi, Fiji Airways has feeder flights to the surrounding islands and countries including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, and Malaysia.
For American travelers, Fiji Airways is the only link between the United States and Fiji. No other American air carriers offer nonstop flights from United States territory to Fiji. With Fiji being a highly sought after vacation spot especially for Americans, Fiji Airways plays a pivotal role in filling that void.
Where in The United States Does Fiji Airways Have Flights to Fiji?
As of March 2025, Fiji Airways offers nonstop flights from the United States to Fiji from four cities. These cities are Dallas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Dallas Fort Worth
The easternmost departure city that Fiji Airways offers service from is Dallas. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has 3 weekly, nonstop flights to Nadi International Airport. These flights are flown on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
The outbound flight from Dallas is Fiji Flight 891 and the inbound flight to Dallas is Flight 890. Both of these flights are flown with the airline’s Airbus A350 fleet.
This route pairing has the distinction of being the longest flight for the airline. This route is also the newest service offered by Fiji Airways to the United States. Only being rolled out a few months ago.
Fiji Airways CEO, Andre Vilijoen, commented about the route “This new route significantly strengthens Fiji Airways’ connectivity across North America, making it easier than ever for U.S. travelers to access Fiji and the South Pacific, with seamless onward connections to Australia and New Zealand. In line with our mission, ‘We Fly for Fiji,’ this new service will bring up to 1,000 passengers to Fiji each week, supporting our nation’s tourism industry and creating new avenues for business collaboration between our two nations.”
Dallas is also the hub city for American Airlines. Fiji Airways has recently joined the OneWorld Alliance which includes American Airlines. American Airlines passengers can get flight miles by using Fiji Airways to get to Fiji, which is a perk of the partnership.
Honolulu
The most comfortable flights to Fiji for U.S passengers is Fiji Airways’ service from Honolulu, Hawaii. This is the shortest flight offered between the United States and Fiji by Fiji Airways. The flight is only about 6 hours.
Fiji Airways uses Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu for their service from Hawaii. Despite being a relatively close departure city, Fiji Airways only offers flights once per week from Hawaii on Saturdays. Fiji Airways Flights 820 & 821, the inbound to Hawaii and outbound respectively are flown with the airline’s Boeing 737.
Flying almost six hours on a Boeing 737 might be challenging for some. The Boeing 737 is a narrow-bodied aircraft. It’s usually used for transcontinental flights here in the United States, anything beyond that might be uncomfortable. Tight seats, single aisles, and a limited number of bathrooms would be some things to expect on this flight.
Los Angeles
Fiji Airways offers flights to Nadi International Airport from Los Angeles. At Los Angeles International Airport, Fiji bound travelers can expect to find daily flights on Fiji Airways to the island nation.
The Fiji Bound flight (Flight 811) and U.S bound flights (Flight 810) are both flown with the Airbus A350. The flight takes 11+ hours depending on the direction of travel.
It makes sense that Los Angeles has the most service out of all the U.S cities to Fiji. Los Angeles functions as the primary departure city for flights to Southeast Asian countries. The large city market demand as well as the relatively shorter distance to Southeast Asia makes Los Angeles an important city for most airlines flying internationally to that region of the world.
Also, American Airlines does use LAX as a hub city. That means many of its domestic services from larger cities do terminate in Los Angeles. With Fiji Airways being part of a partnership with American Airlines, this facilitates smooth travel for American travelers who don’t live in cities with service to Fiji via Fiji Airways.
San Francisco
Passengers can also use San Francisco to connect to Fiji via Fiji Airways. From San Francisco International Airport, the airline has daily flights. Although, the scheduling is sporadic depending on the month. But typically, the airline offers flights four times per week on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The Fiji bound flight is Fiji Airways Flight 871. The San Francisco bound flight is Fiji Airways Flight 870. Both of these flights are flown with their fleet of Airbus A330s.
Just like Los Angeles, San Francisco is another important departure city for any airline offering flights between the United States and Southeast Asia.
However, San Francisco seems to be more inclined to include business travelers, as it is a larger business city than LA. But, that doesn’t fit the bill for Fiji Airways, as destinations in Fiji are likely dedicated more so for leisure travel. That can possibly explain the slight decrease in daily service at San Francisco compared to Los Angeles.
If you fly with Alaska Airlines, Fiji Airways is partnered with them. Alaska Airlines maintains a significant presence at San Francisco. You will be able to find a connection with Alaska to San Francisco, then continue on to Fiji.
Future Expansion?
It is worth noting that the airline doesn’t offer any nonstop flights from any East Coast cities. This means that travelers on the East Coast will have to find a connecting flight to a departure city in the West.
The airline flies the Airbus A350, which is an ultra long haul aircraft. It’s more than capable of reaching the East Coast from Fiji.
For other airlines, it handles some of the longest routes in the world. It’s understandable that Fiji Airways is small, the American demand for Fiji is smaller than that of Australia and New Zealand, but if the airline chooses to expand it’s U.S service, maybe adding more Airbus A350s may be the route to go to lock down those departure cities on the eastern seaboard.
Alternatives to Fiji Airways’ USA Service
Codeshare Agreements
Fiji Airways is a Oneworld Alliance partner. OneWorld is a leading global airline alliance that allows passengers to receive frequent flyer miles on flights with any of its member airlines. For Americans, there are two airlines within the United States that are members of this partnership.
Alaska Airlines
Fiji Airways codeshares with Alaska Airlines on domestic routes to San Francisco and Honolulu. This is great especially if you live in the Pacific Northwest as Alaska Airlines is featured prominently up there. You can fly with Alaska down to Honolulu or San Francisco where you can board your Fiji Airways flight to Fiji, earning points the entire way.
American Airlines
As already mentioned throughout the article, American Airlines and Fiji Airways are partners through OneWorld. According to Fiji Airways’ website, the airline codeshares with American through Los Angeles and San Francisco.
They don’t list Dallas yet. It can be expected that Dallas will be added into the mix as Dallas is one of American’s largest hubs. This exclusion is likely due to the Dallas Fiji service just being announced a short time ago.
Main U.S Competitors
Luckily for Fiji Airways, they do not have any direct U.S competition. No U.S airlines offer nonstop flights to Namaka, Fiji.
What To Expect Flying With Fiji Airways?
Fiji Airways uses three aircraft types to get passengers from U.S territory to Fiji. They fly the Airbus A350, Airbus A330, and the Boeing 737. Yet, across all airplanes their cabin product is pretty standardized.
Cabin Configurations
Fiji Airways offers three passenger cabin experiences onboard each of their planes flying between Fiji and United States territory.
Economy Class
As with many airlines, the bulk of the seats available on Fiji Airways flights are economy.
For Airbus A350 service, Fiji Airways devotes 301 seats in their economy class. These seats are configured in a 2-4-2 row configuration and offer 31-32 inches of pitch. Just for comparison, this is almost identical to the economy class found on Delta’s Airbus A350 product.
Fiji’s Airways Airbus A330 has upwards to 289 passenger seats dedicated to economy. Similar to the Airbus A350 cabin configuration, the A330 also sports a 2-4-2 row configuration with 31 to 32 inches of pitch.
Their Boeing 737 at max capacity can fit 162 passengers in their economy class. The rows are configured in a 3 seat by 3 seats separated by a middle aisle.
Business Class
Fiji Airways also has a business class on each of their airplane types that fly routes between the United States and Fiji.
In Fiji Airways’ Airbus A350 flights, you can expect 33 business class seats near the front of the plane. These seats are configured in a 1-2-1 row and feature 60 to 62 inches of seat pitch.
Their Airbus A330 is set up in a 2-2-2 seating configuration. There are slightly less business seats on the A330 than the A350. The A330 carries 24 business class seats. However, each seat has the same amount of pitch as the A350 seats, 60 inches.
The business class for the Boeing 737 is slightly less luxurious than what you would receive on the Airbus A350 and A330. The 737 has only 8 business class seats, set up in a 2 x 2 configuration. These seats only have 48 inches of pitch.
Fiji Airways’ Inflight Services
On Demand Inflight Entertainment
For transpacific travel, an inflight entertainment system is a must have. Fiji Airways does have an on-demand inflight entertainment system on their Airbus A330s and Airbus A350. They are located on the seat back in front of your seat. You have options to stream the latest movies, tv shows, music, and much more.
However, if you’re flying with Fiji Airways from Honolulu on their Boeing 737s, you won’t have an inflight entertainment system, but movies will be shown on overhead screens and Ipads if you are seated in business class. You also have the option to use your personal device to stream content from Fiji Airways full entertainment catalog.
Onboard WIFI
WIFI is available depending on the airplane you fly on. If you’re on an Airbus A350 XWB or Boeing 737 Max 8, you will have access to WIFI. If not, you won’t have any internet access unfortunately.
Fiji Airways provides free unlimited messaging for both Economy and Business Classes. However, the difference comes when doing actual web browsing. Business Class passengers will get web browsing included. Economy passengers will have to pay an extra charge to have access to web browsing for the duration of the flight.
Dining
For international flights from the United States, there will be meal and drink service at no extra charge.
Business Class passengers will have access to a 3 course meal touching upon local Fijian cuisine. You will also have a choice of the finest wines, cocktails, and liquors.
Our Thoughts On Fiji Airways’ Service From The U.S to Fiji
With Fiji Airways being the only airline with nonstop service from the United States to Fiji, the airline has a lot of room to play.
The route selection is pretty modest. Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas are great departure cities that are destined to drum up some demand for travel to Fiji. You will get your money’s worth by flying with Fiji Airways.
Fiji’s Questionable Hawaiian Service
Fiji Airways’ service in Hawaii leaves much to be desired. First you have to fly Hawaii, then board a small Boeing 737 with relatively outdated in-flight entertainment for 6 hours. This can’t be considered a relaxing experience, in my opinion. At that point, it’s probably better to skip Hawaii and fly direct from the U.S mainland to begin with. It might work great for outbound flights from Fiji to Hawaii. But as an American flying from Hawaii to Fiji, maybe find something better.
Where is The East Coast Service?
One thing I would like to see is Fiji Airways expand to get a flight from New York City. One biggest lapse for the airline right now is that there is no city on the East Coast with nonstop service to Fiji.
If there is a business case to offer travel from New York City to Fiji, what is stopping Fiji Airways from doing so? The Airbus A350 is more than capable of flying from New York to Fiji.
It is 8000 miles between New York City and Fiji. The maximum range of the Airbus A350-900 is 9600 miles. Even if you didn’t want to fly the entire nonstop route, you can take a page out of French Bee’s playbook and offer flights from New York to Fiji with a stop in Los Angeles or San Francisco.
While this idea doesn’t seem to be in the cards for the airline since it can be assumed that the bulk of the revenue for the airline comes through its flights to neighboring islands and Australia. But the recent expansion to Dallas makes me believe the airline is eyeing expansion in the United States.
Sources
https://www.fijiairways.com/en-us
https://corporate.fiji.travel/statistics-and-insights/visitors-arrival
https://seatguru.com/airlines/Fiji_Airways/information.php
https://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from-fiji-to-new-york
