Viljoen is the new CEO and Managing Director of Fiji Airways

The new CEO and Managing Director of Fiji Airways is the current head of Air Mauritius, Andre Viljoen.

Chairman of Fiji Airways, Nalin Patel confirms that Viljoen will take up the position before 1st October this year.

Viljoen has 33 years of professional experience in the airline and tourism industries and has been the CEO of Air Mauritius since 2010.

Patel says the Fiji Airways Board was extremely pleased that the Company would be led by someone, who as CEO of Air Mauritius, had transformed that airline, restored it to profitability and attained the Skytrax 4 Star rating for product and service.

Viljoen says he is very excited to be joining Fiji Airways, the leading airline in the South Pacific, and will continue to build on its strong brand and lead its dedicated team to even greater heights.

Attorney General and Minister for Public Enterprises, Aiyaz Sayed‑Khaiyum, welcomed Viljoen's appointment on behalf of the Fijian Government, the airline's majority shareholder.

He says Viljoen has big shoes to fill in replacing Stefan Pichler who produced a record financial result for Fiji Airways last year but this is an outstanding choice and the government looks forward, under his leadership, to expanding the airline's footprint into other international hubs.

Andre Viljoen, born in South Africa, has 33 years of seasoned airline experience.

He holds an Honours Degree in Commerce and is a Chartered Accountant.

He started his airline career with Comair British Airways in South Africa in the 1980's as Financial Manager and soon grew to the position of Group Financial and Commercial Director, which he held for more than 10 years.

He then went on in 1992 to join South African Express Airways, the largest regional airline in South Africa, as Chief Operating Officer.

In 1995, he joined South African Airways, South Africa’s National Airline, as Chief Financial Officer and took over as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2000 until 2005. 

He implemented an aggressive transformation program known as “Perfecting the Basics” which restored the airline back to profitability by 2002. 

Viljoen has been at Air Mauritius since 2009.

In 2012, he launched a successful turnaround program known as the “7 Step Recovery Plan”. 

The plan restored the airline back to profitability by 2014 and it has ordered six Airbus A350‑900 new generation aircraft to replace its aged fleet of Airbus A340‑300’s.

The service quality improvement program implemented as part of the 7 Step Recovery Plan has earned Air Mauritius the Skytrax 4 Star Rating, as well as the travel award of “Leading Airline to the Indian Ocean”.