Fiji Airways Official Airline For BNZ Crusaders

Fiji Airways, Fiji’s National Airline, has announced their exclusive airline sponsorship of the BNZ Crusaders at an event in Christchurch earlier yesterday. The announcement was made in the run up to the BNZ Crusaders versus Chiefs home game this Saturday.

Andre Viljoen, Managing Director & CEO Fiji Airways said: “We’re delighted to an­nounce our association with the BNZ Cru­saders and to be their Official Airline.

“This announcement builds on the strong relationship that Fijians have with both rugby and New Zealanders. We have a strong connection with New Zealand and are proud of the fact that we’ve been flying to New Zea­land since 1974.”

New Zealand is our second largest market and Christchurch is a key growth market for us. We’ve demonstrated our commitment by increasing flights to three times a week, and now we’ve furthered this commitment by partnering with one of the proudest and most successful teams in the Super Rugby competition.

“We will work with the BNZ Crusaders to engage even more with Kiwis, and in par­ticular people from Christchurch, over the next three years. Sport is a huge part of the lives of both Kiwis and Fijians and we look forward to welcoming Crusaders fans with our renowned Fijian hospitality.”

Fiji Airways has negotiated the exclusive airline partnership until 2020, and will ben­efit from significant marketing and branding rights during this time.

BNZ Crusaders CEO Hamish Riach said the new partnership was a great fit for both or­ganisations, with strong links between the Crusaders and Fiji already existing: “We have a really strong support base in Fiji, and when we get the opportunity to travel and play there the boys love meeting the friendly Fijian fans.

We have had a number of much-loved Fijian players in this team over the years, including Paula Bale, Vilimoni Delasau, Tabai Matson, Marika Vunibaka and Nemani Nadolo, and this year we have three Fijian players in the squad in Jone Macilai, Seta Tamanivalu and Manasa Mataele. This announcement just strengthens those existing bonds with Fiji even more.”

The Crusaders join a proud Fiji Airways sponsorship portfolio, which features the en­tire suite of Fijian National Mens and Wom­ens rugby teams (including Olympic Cham­pion Fijian 7s Team), the Fiji International Golf tournament, and a number of high pro­file brand ambassadors. These include Fi­jian 7s captain Jerry Tuwai, Fijian Football Captain Roy Krishna, Former Fiji 7s Coach Ben Ryan and New Zealand Celebrity Chef Robert Oliver.

Fiji Airways currently operates 15 flights a week between New Zealand and Fiji, which includes three weekly services between Christchurch and Nadi, (flight time of under four hours). In addition, it’s an easy, conveni­ent one-stop flight to Los Angeles, San Fran­cisco and Singapore.

Fiji Airways is the only airline to offer child discounted airfares as well as a daily busi­ness class travel option directly from New Zealand to Fiji.