Air pacific flights schedules change

AIR Pacific will soon announce changes to its flight schedules, including a reduction in the number of flights to Los Angeles.This as the national carrier prepares to send its two Boeing 747-400 aircraft for major maintenance at the Singapore Airlines Engineering Base next month.
Airline chief executive John Campbell confirmed the major maintenance would be between April 19 and May 29.He said changes to flight schedules would be published over the coming days, with some routes having a change in aircraft type.He said Boeing 767s would fly some of the Sydney services normally operated by the Boeing 747, while Boeing 737 aircraft would fly some New Zealand flights normally serviced by the B767.The number of flights to Los Angeles will be reduced from four a week to three during five weeks of maintenance, he said.Mr Campbell said maintenance was planned so that it would occur in the annual seasonal trough after the peak Easter and school holiday periods, so that there would be no disruption to Fiji's tourism arrivals or major flight disruptions.

He said each aircraft would complete approximately two and a half weeks of major maintenance in the five weeks, with Air Pacific's schedules adjusted to accommodate the reduced Boeing 747 fleet.He said the electrical, hydraulic and mechanical systems on the airframe and engines would also be checked and serviced.Upon completion of this work, the next scheduled major maintenance will be in approximately eighteen months time, depending upon the number of hours the aircraft fly in that period, he said.

Routine base maintenance is carried out on a weekly basis by Air Pacific's team of qualified and licensed engineers in Nadi.The planned maintenance program with its focus on engine, airframe and cabin preventative maintenance includes refreshment of the interior and deep cleaning of the aircraft.The heavy maintenance costs will run into many millions of dollars which has been provided for in the Airline's accounts and provisioned in our Expenditure Budgets.Air Pacific operates a fleet of Boeing jet aircraft and ATR42 500s to 16 cities in 11 countries.