Fiji Airways ATR 72 seat aircraft touched down at Lupepau'u International Airport on its first international direct service from Nadi to Vava'u on Saturday, 2 April at the start of a new weekly service.

Fiji Airways Tonga Manager Lavi Maka said today the airline is happy to roll out this service on its Nadi-Vava’u-Tongatapu-Nadi route.

She said all passengers are international with the aircraft flying directly from Nadi to Vava’u then Tongatapu and onwards back to Nadi. "We do not take domestic passengers," she said.

Chairman of the Tonga Tourism Authority Tomifa Paea said this has been a long overdue dream for Vava’u Tourism to open up Lupepau’u International Airport to Nadi flights.

He said with both Lupepau'u and Fua’amotu airports opening up would attract tourists because they now have more options for booking their trips.

"This will also automatically open up the opportunity for our domestic airline to move more people and be prepared to have loading capacity and convenience of more seats and frequent services, especially now with this new service and the Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which has just started flying to Fua’amotu International Airport," he said.