Fijian businessman and tourism entrepreneur Michael Mausio has broken his silence on the controversial 2023 Fiji Airways charter to Israel, revealing that the Fiji Government never paid for the return flight it took control of, despite publicly taking credit for the repatriation.
In a detailed social media post, Mr Mausio said the charter, the first-ever by Fiji Airways to Israel, was arranged after a local church group approached him in late 2022 with the goal of attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
“There was one condition,” Mr Mausio wrote.
“The plane had to be Fiji Airways. At first, they said no. Other airlines like Qantas, Air NZ, and Garuda all said yes, but the client insisted: ‘It must be our national carrier.’”
Fiji Airways finally agreed to the charter, but only issued the formal agreement in early September, leaving Mr Mausio and his company with just weeks before the September 29 departure and no time to offset the cost by selling unused seats or cargo space.
Despite that, over 170 passengers had paid deposits of up to $10,000 for the pilgrimage, he said.
Then, on October 7, just days after the group arrived in Israel, war broke out. Planned charters for 2024 and beyond were immediately cancelled as churches across the Pacific pulled out.
“The return flight, originally part of our charter, was taken over by the government and Fiji Airways to repatriate Fijian nationals,” Mr Mausio wrote.
But what followed, he claims, left his company exposed and abandoned.
“They took the credit publicly with speeches and press releases,” he said.
“But they refused to cover the cost of the repatriation flight. Fiji Airways still insisted our client owed.”
Mr Mausio said some passengers, including relatives of airline staff and government officials travelling privately, flew home without paying. Yet, the financial burden remained with his company.”
“This wasn’t a scam,” he wrote. “It was a chain of events involving airlines, governments, churches, war, and timing.”
