Fiji Airways cleared to resume Samoa – Honolulu flights

Nadi, FIJI — Fiji Airways has been cleared by the government of Samoa to resume its services from Apia Faleolo to Honolulu and launch routes to the mainland US, the Samoa Observer has reported.

But while the authorities have yet to announce their decision publicly, Fiji Airways has scheduled the restart of flights from Apia to Honolulu for August 26, 2022, and plans to initially fly them weekly.

The ch-aviation schedules module shows that Fiji Airways currently operates 3x weekly between IATA!NAD and Apia using its B737-8s. The Fijian flag carrier operated the Apia-Honolulu route through mid-March 2020 when it was suspended due to COVID-19 and Samoa's decision to enforce strict border restrictions. Flights were then operated with B737-800 narrow bodies.

Fiji Airways' US Foreign Air Carrier Permit authorizes it to fly from Nadi via Apia to Honolulu but not to the mainland US. The airline serves Los Angeles Int'l and San Francisco, CA, but exclusively from Nadi. In December 2022, it will launch weekly flights from Kiritimati in Kiribati to Honolulu.

As Samoa Airways continues to lack in-house narrow body aircraft, Apia currently does not have any other links to the US.