Fiji Airways Operates First Charter Flight From Fiji To Israel

Demand for pilgrims to make the trip from Fiji to Israel has seen Fiji Airways take flight on its first-ever charter service connecting Nadi and Tel Aviv (indirectly). In partnership with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem ( ICEJ – FIJI Branch) and Faith Harvest Church, saw delegates from across its congregation in Samoa, the Cook Islands, Tonga, and Fiji decent on Nadi to board the inaugural flight to the Holy Land for the ‘2023 Feast of the Tabernacle.’

Fiji Airways deployed one of its Airbus A330-200 to operate the services, which holds registration DQ-FJV, named ‘Island Of Yasawa-i-rara.’ The ten-year-old Airbus first took flight in 2013 and is usually deployed on the airlines Nadi to Auckland / Sydney or Melbourne services, with occasional services to Asia.

FJ2395

Departing from Nadi International Airport (NAN) on Thursday, September 28th, bound for Tel Aviv with a stopover in Hong Kong. With a scheduled departure time of 07:45, the service eventually took flight just over 20 minutes behind schedule, taking flight at 08:08. The nine-hour and 38-minute service touched down ahead of schedule at 13:46 instead of its expected arrival time of 14:15.

After just over two hours on the apron at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok, the aircraft retook a flight bound for Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport (TLV) at 16:34 insteitsf it’s scheduled flight time of 16:15.

The ten-hour and 25-minute service to Tel Aviv, headed in a westerly direction, passed south below over Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and the Bay of Bengal before passing over India and Mumbai. From this point, the aircraft headed in a more North Westerly direction, towards Oman and the United Arab Emirates, North of Qatar, before entering Saudi Airspace over Dammam, before crossing Jordan and into its final destination of Israel.

Touching down into TLV, no doubt was met with celebration for the many onboard, welcomed into Israel at 21:59, just nine minutes behind its scheduled arrival time of 21:50.

Ferry flight home

According to data from Flightradar24.com, the aircraft isn’t waiting for the festiviti.es to finish, with FJ2462 departing from Tel Aviv the following afternoon.

Photo: Jordan Tan / Shutterstock

As the crew had rested, the flight took off from Tel Aviv on September 29th, leaving at 21:03 (instead of 19:30), destined for Nadi via Hong Kong. Currently, the aircraft is winging its way across India en route to HKG before returning to Nadi later today.

This visit by Fiji Airways signals the first-ever visit by FJ to Israel.

Source: Flightradar24.com, Jerusalem Post