Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nadi International Airport is Fiji's principal gateway, sited on the western coast of Viti Levu near the town of Nadi, and serves as the hub for Fiji Airways and its regional subsidiary Fiji Link. For a visiting VFR or IFR pilot it offers a full ATC service, an ILS-equipped main runway, and a long history stretching back to wartime military use.
Nadi International Airport (ICAO: NFFN) is the main international airport of Fiji and a key regional hub for the South Pacific, located on the west coast of Viti Levu in the Western Division. It is owned and operated by Fiji Airports Limited and serves as the principal base for Fiji Airways and its domestic and regional subsidiary Fiji Link. For a pilot arriving from further afield in the Pacific, Nadi is the busiest and most significant airfield in Fiji, combining large-aircraft international traffic with a strong history as a wartime staging field.
Nadi lies on the western, drier side of Viti Levu, close to the town of Nadi itself and around 20 km from Lautoka. It sits within controlled airspace served by air traffic control, with area control, approach and tower functions all provided from the field. Nadi has historically also hosted an extensive Flight Information Service, at one stage covering a very large area of the South Pacific before this role was transferred to Auckland.
Nadi has two physical runways. The main runway, 02/20, is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of just over 10,500 feet in length (10,507 ft on runway 02 and 10,792 ft on runway 20), and is equipped with an ILS on runway 02. The secondary runway, 09/27, is also hard-surfaced and lit, at 6,985 feet in length. Field elevation is 33 feet.
Nadi provides a full range of radio services. Area control (RDO ACC) is available on 126.7 MHz, with a Flight Information Service and approach control (FIS APP) on 119.1 MHz. Tower and ground control are both provided on 118.1 MHz, and an air-to-ground (A/G) frequency is listed on 346.7 MHz. Terminal information (ATIS/TRML INFO) is broadcast on 127.9 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 02.
The original airstrips at Nadi were built by New Zealand from August 1939, funded by the British colonial authorities, and completed in March 1940. They were significantly extended from November 1941 at the request of the United States for the South Pacific air ferry route, with the first 7,000-foot runway completed by January 1942 and two further runways finished by April 1942, paid for under reverse Lend-Lease arrangements. During the Pacific War the airfield was used by the United States Army Air Forces as USAAF Nandi; B-17 Flying Fortresses flew from Nadi against Japanese targets in the Philippines and Solomon Islands early in the war, and in 1943 the 42d Bombardment Group operated B-25 Mitchells from the field. The US Navy also used the airfield during this period, as Naval Air Facility Nandi. Control of Nadi Airport passed to New Zealand on 20 December 1946, with the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand beginning operations there in 1947. The first tarmac runway was built in 1946, 7,000 feet by 150 feet, at a cost of £46,500. Nadi served as a key transfer point in the early 1960s for passengers moving from Auckland's Whenuapai Airport, which could only handle turboprop and piston aircraft, onto jet services such as DC-8s and Boeing 707s bound for North America and Europe; Nadi also once controlled the world's largest Flight Information Service, covering over ten million square kilometres, until this role passed to the newly opened Auckland Airport at Mangere in 1965. On 19 May 1987, shortly after Fiji's first coup, an armed refueller boarded Air New Zealand Flight 24 during a scheduled refuelling stop at Nadi, demanding passage out of the country and the release of the detained Prime Minister; the situation ended when the flight engineer struck the hijacker with a bottle of duty-free whisky before he was handed to police. Fiji began participating in the airport's administration at independence in 1970, with full control transferred in 1979. In 1999, Fiji Airports Limited was established by act of parliament as a state-owned enterprise to operate and administer Fiji's airports, including Nadi International.
Nadi remains Fiji's principal international airport and the main hub for Fiji Airways and Fiji Link, handling the great majority of the country's international air traffic. It is operated by Fiji Airports Limited (trading as Airports Fiji Limited) and continues to see substantial passenger and cargo movements alongside ongoing terminal and infrastructure development.