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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks.

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Speaker 2: A'd be now fair for correspondents. Mike Yardley, Good morning sir,

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Speaker 2: Good morning Jack. How long till you get to go

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Speaker 2: to Takaha. For the first time, I noticed you weren't

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Speaker 2: there in the background as they cut the ribbon yesterday,

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Speaker 2: as Dan Carter's a lot of one between the posts.

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Speaker 3: I poked my head in very briefly. What I think

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Speaker 3: is just so good about it, Jack, is that it

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Speaker 3: embodies the intimacy that was probably the only good thing

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Speaker 3: about Apollo, where you're right up close to the field,

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Speaker 3: so that experience is absolutely matched at One New Zealand.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, and that just accentuates the whole experience for people.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, it is going to be so special. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: The amazing Now we're focusing this morning on an airline

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Speaker 2: that you reckon is actually going from strength to strength

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Speaker 2: at the moment, which is pretty rare given the state

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Speaker 2: of given the state of the world at the moment

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Speaker 2: you reckon Fiji, Fiji Airways has become a serious competitor

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Speaker 2: in the Pacific.

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Speaker 3: It is a really remarkable story, Jack. Yeah, and given

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Speaker 3: as you quite rightly say, the turbulence clobbering global aviation

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Speaker 3: at the moment, it is certainly good to have plenty

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Speaker 3: of competitive options for trans Pacific travel. So Fijiirways since COVID,

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Speaker 3: they have been on this major growth path, spreading their

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Speaker 3: wings far and wide across Asia and North America. They're

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Speaker 3: sizing up South America. They've been on a roll. In fact,

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Speaker 3: if you look at the international route network, they now

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Speaker 3: fly to twenty five destinations in fifteen countries. It's nearly

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Speaker 3: as comprehensive as their New Zealand's in New Zealand go

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Speaker 3: twenty nine destinations in sixteen countries.

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Speaker 4: So they are like the little airline that could.

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Speaker 2: How amazing. So for trans Pacific travel, what key long

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Speaker 2: haul destinations can they.

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Speaker 4: Get you to?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, if you're flying from Auckland, Wellington or christ

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Speaker 3: Church to They have positioned themselves as a sharply priced

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Speaker 3: option for long haul travel, So lots of onward connections

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Speaker 3: to say Vancouver, La, Dallas, San Francisco, Honolulu, Tokyo, Singapore,

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Speaker 3: Hong Kong. Then you've got all the South Pacific routes

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Speaker 3: that they crisscross. I actually had the Prime Minister of

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Speaker 3: Tuvaro seated next to me on my flight home to

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Speaker 3: christ Church this week, so you never know who you'll

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Speaker 3: end up with.

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Speaker 2: Amazing, Yeah, okay, interesting, So for people in the three

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Speaker 2: and christ Jurjen and Wellington. Yeah what yeh, he added appeal.

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Speaker 3: Well, with the greatest respect to walking into airport Jack,

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Speaker 3: flying Fiji avoids the faff entailed and lugging it between

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Speaker 3: terminals at Auckland for onward connections, and those long haul

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Speaker 3: flights to North America and Asia from Nandy they are

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Speaker 3: well timed with the New Zealand flights, so you've got

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Speaker 3: a very short, very seamless transit to change planes in Nandy.

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Speaker 3: Only wrinkle I would point out is that I noticed

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Speaker 3: that the Nandy Departures Lounge is now bursting at the seams.

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Speaker 4: You know, they've become like a victim of their own success.

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Speaker 3: But there are plans in the works to substantially enlarge

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Speaker 3: the departures area and facilities which cannot come soon enough.

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Speaker 2: And I guess you can give yourself a bit of

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Speaker 2: a bonus break in Fiji as well.

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Speaker 4: Right well, this is the great thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, regardless where you are in New Zealand, if you

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Speaker 3: fly Fiji aways say, you know to North America, why

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Speaker 3: not give yourself two holidays and one So I came

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Speaker 3: back from Dallas and had a couple of nights mini

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Speaker 3: break in Fiji on the way home, and I actually

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Speaker 3: found it a really good way to just shake off

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Speaker 3: all that jet lag from those big trans specific flights

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Speaker 3: before you quick hop home.

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Speaker 4: Highly recommend it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, how good. I think it's a great way to

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Speaker 2: approach things. What about the in flight experience? They got

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Speaker 2: new planes they have.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they're really proud of their supernu big birds so

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Speaker 3: across the Pacific. Extra wide Body A three fifties are

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Speaker 3: the workhorses long haul and that's such good aircraft. I've

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Speaker 3: used them with Kathay and Singapore and what I love

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Speaker 3: about the A three fifties is they are super quiet.

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Speaker 3: You don't get that engine noise in the cabin, and

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Speaker 3: the air quality in the cabin is so much better.

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Speaker 3: And I certainly could not fault the in flight experience

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Speaker 3: in economy. The on demand entertainment options are substantial. They've

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Speaker 3: got in flight Wi Fi. The food and beverage was

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Speaker 3: really good. Actually, on my way home check I thought

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Speaker 3: you would like this. I had a hot and fluffy

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Speaker 3: waffle with berries and custard for breakfast an economy and

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Speaker 3: it was hot flood it was, and the custard was dreamy.

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Speaker 3: It was such a good breakfast option. So that that

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Speaker 3: has stayed with me. I have to say, oh.

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Speaker 2: God, did they have premium Economy?

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Speaker 3: Well, yeah, good question, because the point here end is

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Speaker 3: certainly attracting an ongoing surge and demand worldwide, you know,

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Speaker 3: amongst flyers, Fiji offers business and economy. But interestingly, even

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Speaker 3: though they don't have a dedicated Premium Economy section, what

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Speaker 3: they have done is theyre marked a lot of seats

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Speaker 3: and Economy is what they call bull of space seats, right,

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Speaker 3: So this gives you a lot more leg room and

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Speaker 3: seat recline if you want to stretch out, and it's

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Speaker 3: not as expensive as you'd expect, you know, like if

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Speaker 3: you upgrade to Premium Economy on another carrier. So you

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Speaker 3: just choose bull of Space in the seat selection booking process,

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Speaker 3: and it's a really good, non exorbitant option.

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Speaker 2: If you do want to stretch just a little bit

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Speaker 2: more space. Yeah, no, they could be. Yeah, for those

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Speaker 2: of us who have abnormally long femurs.

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Speaker 1: That could be a very good.

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Speaker 2: This is true, Jack, Yes, yes, okay, Well what about

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Speaker 2: it on a global scale? How would you say that

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Speaker 2: kind of rate can be to other airlines.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been doing a bit of digging and they

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Speaker 3: certainly are turning a few heads in the airline world.

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Speaker 4: Now, I know aviation can be a bit dime a dozen.

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Speaker 3: But interestingly Fiji Airways, I know, they were stoked a

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Speaker 3: few months ago to score what is called an APEX

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Speaker 3: World Class Airline Award and these are reserved to just

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Speaker 3: ten global airlines. So they bagged one of these in November.

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Speaker 3: So that has thrust Fiji into the same company as

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Speaker 3: their usual gong grabbers like Emirates, Cutter and Singapore Airlines.

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Speaker 3: And also Fiji Airways won the APEX Global Award for

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Speaker 3: Best Cabin Service. Now that does not surprise me because

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Speaker 3: their crew on every flight ialk were just the stars

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Speaker 3: of the show.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: It's that quintessential Fijian hospitality you'll get.

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Speaker 4: So I rate them, Jack, I do rate.

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Speaker 3: Them, And as I say, I just think it's so

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Speaker 3: good that we have a number of competitively priced options

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Speaker 3: to give us across the big Pacific.

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Speaker 2: And there are so many just little additional bonuses with that,

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Speaker 2: like whether it's the Bull of Space or whether it's Christieton,

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Speaker 2: and the options across the Pacific from the different centers,

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Speaker 2: those things can end up that the kind of net

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Speaker 2: effect can be really significant.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I just found it quite a stress free way

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Speaker 3: to get from you know, A to B to C

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Speaker 3: to D. I actually really enjoyed it, and I didn't

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Speaker 3: come back feeling you know, jaded, as I often do

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Speaker 3: on those big Transpacific flights.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Good, okay, Hey, thank you for that, Mike. We very

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Speaker 2: much appreciate it. More insights on flying Fiji airways. Mike's

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Speaker 2: article is up on the Newstalk's He'd Be website, along

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Speaker 2: with everything from our show. We put everything up there,

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Speaker 2: so that recipe we shared before ten o'clock this morning,

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Speaker 2: the salted caramel baked apples, that fantastic sounding dessert is

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Speaker 2: up on the website. Our film picks, our screen time recommendations,

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Speaker 2: our book reviews. Everything goes up there. News talks, headb

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Speaker 2: dot co, dot nzed forward slash Jack.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live

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