Fiji Airways is an essential part of the country’s economic structure and cannot be given away to foreign interest, according to the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Speaking in Parliament last week, he said Qantas had an interest in Fiji Airways but had not contributed a single cent during this crisis.
“Now, we have Opposition members seriously saying that we should sell to Qantas, or bring back Qantas or Air New Zealand. “I heard one of their supporters the other day on social media saying, ‘Sell it to Air New Zealand!’
“It is shameful. “These people are lackeys to foreign companies with no pride in their carrier or their country and not a shred of foresight.
“They want to tear down our national carrier, burn down Fiji’s one bridge to the rest of the world, because that is what Fiji Airways means for Fijians — our bridge to the world.”
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum added this was how visitors, friends and families and relatives came or visited from other countries.
He said the national carrier was also how farmers and exporters delivered their goods to foreign markets and many of the country’s citizens had returned during this global pandemic.
“Yesterday, the world may be closed but it will not always be closed, and if we do not support our carrier through this crisis, the world will never open up to us in the same way again,” he said.
“There will be no full recovery for tourism. The jobs will not come back. There will be no future economic comeback.
“There will be no returning to life as it was, instead we will cement ourselves in economic purgatory and leave our children in an economic worse position than what we had inherited.”
