Air Tahiti Nui
Air Tahiti Nui is a French airline and the flag carrier of French Polynesia, with its head office in Papeete, Tahiti. It operates long-haul flights from its home base at Faa'a International Airport, with a fleet consisting of four Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
History
Air Tahiti Nui was established on 31 October 1996 and commenced flight operations on 20 November 1998. It was the first international long-haul airline based in French Polynesia, which was formed to develop inbound tourism. The Government of French Polynesia is the major shareholder along with other local investors. Air Tahiti Nui had 782 employees around 2007.After years running a deficit, Air Tahiti Nui faced possible bankruptcy in 2011. The President of French Polynesia, Oscar Temaru, called for all eligible workers in the territory help bail out the carrier by voluntarily paying a third of their income into a rescue fund. After four years of deficit, the company started making profits again in 2015.
In May 2015, Air Tahiti Nui announced its intention to replace its entire fleet, then consisting of five Airbus A340-300 aircraft. They would be replaced by four Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which would be delivered in 2018 and 2019. Air Tahiti Nui operated its last A340 service in September 2019.
In April 2018, in anticipation of its new fleet of Boeing 787-9s, Air Tahiti Nui launched its redesigned brandmark and updated typography. The redesigned logo is a joint collaboration between Future Brand and Polynesian contemporary artist Alexander Lee. The re-drawn logo represents a tiare flower, the airline's emblem from the start of its history, depicted in a two-thirds view, with the profile of a vahine in its pistil, a nod to Tahiti's reputation for beautiful women and flowers in the South Seas.
In March 2020, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and as an impact of restrictions by the United States on international flights, Air Tahiti Nui operated the world's longest domestic flight with a lightly-loaded Boeing 787-9. The aircraft flew nonstop from Faa'a International Airport serving Papeete to Charles de Gaulle Airport serving Paris, skipping the then-restricted intermediate stop at Los Angeles International Airport, and traversing a great-circle distance of between the two airports. The airline's flights between Papeete and Paris were later adjusted to make technical stops interchangeably between Pointe-à-Pitre and Vancouver International Airport. Air Tahiti Nui's record was later eclipsed by French Bee in May 2020, which operated its own flight from Papeete to Paris, but to Orly Airport, covering a great-circle distance of.
Destinations
Overview
As of August 2019, Air Tahiti Nui serves the following destinations:Country or territory | City | Airport | Notes | Refs |
Australia | Sydney | Sydney Airport | ||
France | Paris | Charles de Gaulle Airport | ||
French Polynesia | Papeete | Faa'a International Airport | ||
Japan | Osaka | Kansai International Airport | ||
Japan | Tokyo | Narita International Airport | ||
New Zealand | Auckland | Auckland International Airport | ||
United States | Los Angeles | Los Angeles International Airport | ||
United States | New York City | John F. Kennedy International Airport |
Codeshare agreements
Air Tahiti Nui has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:It has also codeshares with the SNCF, the French national railway operator.
Fleet
Current fleet
, the Air Tahiti Nui fleet consists of the following aircraft:Historical fleet
- Airbus A340-200
- Airbus A340-300
Livery
With the introduction of the airline's Boeing 787-9 aircraft in October 2018, the airline's new livery incorporated markings derived from traditional Tahitian tattoos to the fuselage, the blue color used for most of the livery was changed to a darker shade, and the airline's name written on the forward fuselage was changed to the airline's new wordmark. However, despite the airline's tiare flower logo undergoing a visual change during the airline's overall rebranding, the logo used on the aircraft's tailfin was largely unchanged from the previous version.
Air Tahiti Nui's names for its aircraft are predominantly derived from various islands and atolls across French Polynesia, including Bora Bora, Fakarava, Mangareva, Moorea, Nuku Hiva, Rangiroa and Tetiaroa. An exception is a Boeing 787-9 named after Tupaia, a historical Tahitian navigator.