North Saanich’s Viking Air Ltd. has announced the sale of more of its Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft to Fiji Airways.
The local aircraft manufacturing company says it has sold three Twin Otters to Fiji Airways for use as regional commuter aircraft throughout the island nation. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery between October of this year and February 2018. they will add to Fiji Airways’ existing fleet of three legacy Twin Otter aircraft - which that company has been operating for the last decade.
“The Twin Otter remains the aircraft of choice for our subsidiary Fiji Link’s operations to most of Fiji’s smaller airports,” stated Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways Group Managing Director and CEO in a media release. “The Series 400 is a definite step up for our expanded Twin Otter fleet, and will allow us to increase capacity to key Fijian destinations.”
The Series 400 Twin Otters will be delivered as standard land planes in 19-passenger configuration, and equipped with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34 turbine engines and Honeywell Primus Apex fully integrated digital IFR avionics suite.
“The team at Fiji Airways exude consummate professionalism and have been a pleasure to deal with from the outset,” said Peter Walker, Viking’s International Sales Director for Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific. “We’re thrilled to be working with such an esteemed airline, and are looking forward to future possibilities as Fiji Airways expand their Twin Otter fleet.”
The sale is good news for the local aircraft company, following a series of layoffs that took effect at the end of July.
