Republic of Fiji Air Force?

Oh dear!

Colonel Mohammed Aziz is on the loose. With the charter in one hand and his cock in the other, this latest finger pointing exercise is to be noted. Latest in says he warned Air Pacific not to blame the military takeover of the Fijian government for the loss in revenues for the latest financial year. He instead blamed the mismanagement of the airline for the loss in revenue.

Um yeah, we’ll listen to this terrorist.

He “warned” the airline. What is the RFMF going to do? Fire all the pilots, replace them with Z-grade senior officers. Those retards wouldn’t be able to start the flight deck electrics or know what an APU is. Make sure all the flight attendants parrot the propaganda from the top as the aircraft descend into Nadi  and Nausori. I can just imagine it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seatbelt sign in preparation for landing. We would like to tell you that the military is god around here, Chaudhry loves your hotel taxes and you’ll come and worship Bainimarama at the tourism bure, Sheraton Fiji.”

But lets look at whats going on. Air Pacific’s revenues are down $70m. Aziz noted that tourism did not suffer much after the coup and had no reason to experience major revenue losses. Looks like Aziz has is a lawyer, accountant and terrorist (not afraid to say that one) all rolled into a neat little package. He seems to know everything, but lets open up this article for a bit of scrutiny.

He says that there was a 21.3% increase in international passenger numbers in the 3rd quarter.

1) Where did he get the figure from? 21.3% increase over the 2nd quarter, 21.3% over the previous 3rd quarter? Learn to read before you start speaking. Its a very important thing. Note this is only one quarter’s figures. The other three quarters could have been bloody shocking. What are the actual raw numbers, statistical modelling and analysis?

2) Reliability of source? Fiji Bureau of Statistics. Need I say more. Guess who is in charge.

3) What is the composition of the 21.3% increase? Is it Fijian expatriates hoping to grease the military for a job? Or expatriates coming to see friends and family? Again until you break it down, you don’t know Jack. Or you don’t know Aziz in this case.

Now having flung his stupid made-up figures or lack of corrobrated evidence, lets move on to the evidence piece. Air Pacific has reported a $70m revenue decrease over the previous financial year.

Revenue is affected by many factors. Pricing, passenger numbers and advertising to name a few. Air Pacific of late has been advertising on Australian and New Zealand television offering hot deals to Fiji including accommodation packages and deeply discounted flights at some periods.

Fijian tourism operators (including airlines) have had to put deep discounts on their prices just to attract the tourists. And they are ignoring the basic rule of business which involves covering your costs. If airfares decrease then of course revenue decreases. If I sell 10 airfares at $100, then my revenue is $1000. If I sell 10 airfares at $200, then my revenue is $2000.

That is a simple proposition. Thats not mismanagement. They are trying to get some revenue to at least get their aircraft operating with some passengers rather than none.

Also breakdowns with aircraft are inevitable. Air Pacific’s two Boeing 747-400’s are leased from Singapore Airlines. They were early build aircraft probably from the late 80’s/early 90’s. Air Pacific does not have a British Airways or Qantas sized fleet to provide large supplies of spare parts. The Nadi jet base is not large enough and does not have the required number of skilled engineers to provide this maintenance. To get to Aziz’s standard, Air Pacific would have to spend a lot of money just getting up there which may end up bankrupting the small airline.

New long range aircraft are expensive to purchase and Air Pacific does not have large sums of money just lying around to do so. Air Pacific did purchase brand new Boeing 787 aircraft but they don’t arrive for a while yet. Fuel prices are rising quite sharply and profit margins have been sheared off. Again to get to standard, where are they going to get the money to do this “airline clean-up”?

Lastly, new markets.

Where? India? China? Venezuela? Opening up new markets takes time and plenty of research. You just don’t open up a route for the sake of it. And besides, when an airline opens up a new market, it does not necessarily make a profit. Setup costs are high and its needs long haul aircraft. According to Aziz these can be purchased off Budget Motors for a few bob and put into service the next week. Again a long haul fleet costs money and where are you going to find that?

So Aziz could be the military CEO of Air Pacific and open flights to the mother land. Thats all good and well. But I don’t think Indians will flock to Fiji in their droves. They have resorts and holiday destinations closer to home. And I don’t think an unstable political environment would tempt them to fly over 14 hours to Fiji.

So stick to being a terrorist Aziz. At least you’re more qualified at it.