Plane Spotting at HKG ... Part 14

There's never a dull moment Plane Spotting at Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok airport. And the best part - spotting begins even before you touch down...

I spot a rare bird - Cathay Pacific's quadjet - Airbus A340, which is on the verge of retirement...

And there's one exotic bird - an Air New Zealand Boeing 777 parked in between a few Cathay widebodies...

A Jet Airways Boeing 777 being towed to its parking bay to resting before flying back to Mumbai later tonight...

And I spot an Air Seychelles Airbus A330...

A South African Airways Airbus A340 and an American Airlines Boeing 777...

It's a dull morning here...

The whale from Bangkok - Thai's Airbus A380...

Air China Boeing 737...

And this is the first time I have spotted an Aeroflot Boeing 777 - I love the Aeroflot livery...

ANA's Boeing 787 Dream)liner parked next to a China Eastern Airbus A320...

That's my bird - the very beautiful "Island of Yasawa-i-Rara" of Fiji Airways with a registration DQ-FJV...

The "Island of Yasawa-i-Rara" has been in active service for Fiji Airways since November 2013 and will fly me into Nadi on the Fijian island of Viti Levu in about 10 hours...

The livery of Fiji Airways is amazing isn't it? One aviation livery expert called it "a 'Marmite/Vegimite' of liveries. You are either going to love it, or hate it"... 

I first spotted this lovely livery here in Hong Kong this August, when I was on my way back from Melbourne. And I so wished I could fly on this exotic airline. God has answered my prayers today...

Fiji Airways was previously called Air Pacific. And it owes its origins to the Australian aviator Harold Gatty who in 1931 had been the navigator on a record-breaking round-the-world flight with Wiley Post. Gatty moved to Fiji after World War II and registered the airline in 1947 as Katafaga Estates Ltd., after the coconut estate Gatty had established on Fiji's eastern island group. Gatty renamed the airline as Fiji Airways in September 1951.

After Gatty's death in 1958, Fiji Airways was acquired by the Australian flag-carrier, Qantas. Initially, Qantas tried to develop the airline a multinational, shared, regional airline with the governments of Tonga, Western Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands as shareholders.

After Fiji gained independence in 1970, the Fijian government acquired the airline and the airline was renamed Air Pacific to reflect its regional presence. With time, Pacific island governments sold their shares and created their own national airlines, leaving Air Pacific under Fijian control.

Air Pacific was rebranded in 2012 (in conjunction with the fleet renewal plans) to reflect its Fijian origins. Alongwith the rebranding came the lovely new livery we see today - traditional tribal motifs usually used in the ‘Masi’ cloth - a fabric made exclusively by women from the bark of the mulberry tree.

The distinctive Teteva symbol which had been designed by the Fijian Masi artist Makereta Matemosi, is featured on the tail, representing the friendliness and caring nature of the Fijians. The Rova motif featured on the engine cowlings, symbolises the warm greeting Fijians extend to visitors, while the Makare motif, which appears around the border of the Teteva on the tail, evokes the allure of clear water flowing on a white sandy beach.

With a beautiful cowling like that, the Qatar Airways Boeing 787 Dream)liner, the British Airways Airbus A380 and the Star Alliance liveried Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 get virtually no attention from me...

And it's time to say "Bula, Fiji"...