Cyclone in Fiji kills 17 - foreign tourists leaving

Fiji has been battered by cyclones and storms which has taken 17 lives and, as a result, international tourists have panicked and have begun to flee the Pacific island nation which is the favorite travel spot for tourists of Australia and New Zealand. This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 23 February 2016.

Care Australia has indicated that the body count if the dead in Suva had jumped steeply from six previously with fears that the numbers will keep rising as news filters in from remote areas. The severe tropical cyclone Winston, the first category five storm in Fiji, had struck the Pacific nation with wind gusts of 325 kilometres per hour, and left behind a trail of destruction.
The cyclone, the strongest ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, had flattened scores of homes, crippled infrastructure and forced terrified residents to run for shelter in evacuation centers. The full scale of the disaster would be known only after communications were restored with the remote communities that experienced the storm's full fury.
For international tourists who are caught up in the disaster, they will begin to leave as flights resumed at Nadi airport after a two-day suspension. Air New Zealand has confirmed that one of its aircraft departed at 9:30 AM (local time) and other carriers including Jetstar, Virgin Australia and Fiji Airways were also expected to begin operations again.
Fiji's economy relies heavily on tourism and the island chain is a major destination for people of Australia and New Zealand.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Hawaiian Airlines plans to spread its wings to New Zealand

#HawaiianAirlines #AirNewZealand #FijiAirways #Auckland #Honolulu Hawaiian Airlines at present operates three return fights every week to Auckland but, it now plans to increase the frequency and nurses hopes to step up the number of flights to New Zealand as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 23 February 2015.
Hawaiian Airlines is based in Honolulu and has been flying to Auckland for just on two years. In the opinion of its president and chief executive Mark Dunkerley, while there are no plans announced right now but in the long term perspective, and if the traffic continues to grow, the possibilities of increasing frequency is certainly on the cards.
The airline has undergone rapid growth around the Pacific Rim in the past five years and was reported to be making "good money" on the Auckland route. In view of its presence the passenger traffic between Auckland and Honolulu has nearly doubled. As a result, Air New Zealand had to rejig its schedule, and add more seasonal capacity apart from dropping its fares.
Fiji Airways is also another option to fly to Hawaii via Fiji.
In spite of competition, the fastest growing market for Hawaiian Airlines was that of Americans who were flying south to this country – it is a reflection of a growing awareness of Hawaiian Airlines' network and the improvement in the United States economy.