APEX EXPO 2025: André Viljoen Reveals Game-Changing Strategies Allowing Fiji Airways to Successfully Compete with Giants
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During his keynote speech at APEX Global EXPO, Fiji Airways CEO André Viljoen shared ten game-changing strategies implemented since the beginning of his tenure, which he believes are the reason it is the highest APEX-rated international airline of its size in the world.
The first was harnessing the strength of its people. He explained, “What we did is we brought in a lot of cognitive psychology programs. These programs include frameworks like NLP, Enneagram, Neuro-Semantics, The Four Quadrants,” and more.
They were first deployed across senior leadership teams, and then rolled out to every employee across the company. “What it’s done is changed the mindset, which is now highly focused on being the best in the world and particularly on punching above our weight,” Viljoen continued.
Fiji Airways’ second game-changing strategy was to clearly define its purpose. “Our purpose is that we fly for Fiji,” said Viljoen. “50 percent of our economy is tourist-based, and we bring in 70 percent of all arrivals to the country […] essentially, we are custodians of the strategy of the country, which is tourism.”
Ensuring Service Excellence Wins Customers
Next, the carrier focused on service quality. “We brought in Ron Kauffman and his Uplifting Service program, which we’ve lived from 2017 to today,” stated Viljoen. “Every quarter we take every service employee through a service training program. It’s not about service procedures, it’s about education – we educate service and we train process.”
“Essentially, we are custodians of the strategy of the country, which is tourism.”
Skytrax has named Fiji Airways both ‘Best Airline in Australia & Pacific’ and ‘Best Airline Staff Service in 2023 and 2024,’ surpassing far larger rivals, and Viljoen believes its small size enables it to offer a personalized service hard for Air New Zealand and Qantas to match. He noted, “Every market we serve, we’re second to a main carrier. We’re not a price leader, but a service leader. Our flights leave every night from Nadi to LAX with 50 percent connecting traffic. These are Kiwis and Aussies using our flights.”
A recent addition to Fiji Airways’ service offering is ‘Dine on Demand.’ The airline is the smallest in the world to have adopted the concept with help from Yates & Company, and it involved an entire reorganization of its catering infrastructure. It has also done away with amenity kits, instead encouraging passengers to pick and choose only what they need from a range of high-quality products.
Looking Ahead: US Growth and Digital Innovation
Internally, Viljoen is conscious that Fiji Airways needs to improve its digital offering “in all areas of the company” so it can “reap the benefits of that,” but admitted that financing an overhaul in this regard will be costly.
While he confirmed that significant investment in its website has led to 40 percent of bookings now being carried out online, Viljoen believes the number could be higher. “Our mobile app isn’t working as well as it should, so we’ve got a lot of investment we have to do there.”
“Every quarter we take every service employee through a service training program.”
The airline is also focused on growing its market share in the US, as US flights currently account for 20 percent of its business. Viljoen highlighted that becoming a full member of oneworld earlier this year, and adopting American Airlines’ loyalty program will further this goal. “97 percent of our business is in-bound leisure coming on their one-off holidays, but now we have access to American’s 100M+ database and dynamic pricing for redemptions. It’s a great step forward for us.”
Finally, Viljoen said Fiji Airways is set on being the first airline of its size to achieve the APEX World Class award, something it has actively been working towards for the last 18 months. “The first time we collected an APEX Five Star Award, sitting at a round table with airlines that have 300 aircraft and 70,000 staff, while we have 20 aircraft and 2,000 staff […] was breathtaking. There’s no question the inspiration our staff get from receiving these awards.”
The APEX World Class airlines will be announced at the APEX Global EXPO awards ceremony on Thursday, September 11.