Fiji school charters Air NZ plane to bring in students

An English language school in Fiji has secured an Airbus to bring at least 100 of its students into the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Free Bird Institute Limited signed a contract with Air New Zealand last week to charter the A320 aircraft from Japan to Nadi via Auckland next month.

In September, Free Bird announced it had received approval from the Covid-19 Risk Mitigation Taskforce that would allow its international students to enter Fiji under special request.

The company, listed on the South Pacific Stock Exchange in Suva (SPX), said the chartered flight would operate from Auckland to Nadi on 27 December.

In a statement, its Chief Financial Officer, Waisale Ioane, said the flight was arranged to coincide with Air New Zealand's commercial flight arriving from Narita on the same day.

"This will allow our students to transit through Auckland and onto this charter flight through to Fiji," Ioane said.

The company said it was important to "start opening our borders and welcoming back visitors and international students in a Covid-safe manner".

All students arriving in would undergo strict border quarantine conditions at their own cost including a compulsory 14-day quarantine at a government-designated facility supervised by the military.

The institute's chair, Hiroshi Taniguchi, said students would need to show a negative test result for Covid-19, 72 hours before leaving Japan.

Taniguchi said they would also undergo two mandatory Covid-19 tests while in quarantine in Fiji.

"FBL is pleased to note that it continues to generate interest from the market in Japan who continue to choose Fiji as a destination to study abroad and it hopes to capitalise progressively on this demand especially during this pandemic," he said.

"We are also grateful to the Fiji government and its relevant departments who have supported us with this initiative."

Free Bird has campuses in Nadi and Lautoka with a total of 500 students.

The company said since 2015, 15,000 students from 29 different countries including China, Spain, Germany, Japan and South Korea have graduated from the school.