An aircraft docked in a hangar with engineers nearby

Our Story

Born from the Pacific. Built for the Pacific.

Flying Fish Aviation Fiji started the way most honest ideas do: over conversations between two likeminded friends, with decades in the industry, arriving at the same conclusion. The Pacific has big airlines, tourism routes, and international connectivity. But for ordinary Pacific Islanders — the village trader, the outer island family, the small business moving goods between islands — the aviation network has never fully served their needs. That's the void Flying Fish was built to fill.

As Pacific Islanders first, we know these communities because we are from them. Our focus is on connecting smaller island operations to larger carriers and cities — building the middle layer of Pacific aviation that has never properly existed. When that connection is made, local economies grow, trade moves, and people reach each other. That's what drives us.

Shalendra Sagar

Co-Founder & Director

Shalen is a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer and former Manager Engineering at Samoa Airways, with over 30 years of frontline technical experience across Fiji Airways (formerly Air Pacific), Oman Air, and Samoa Airways. He holds aircraft authorisations across the Boeing fleet, ATR and Embraer. These type ratings include B737NG, B737 MAX and B767-300, ATR 42-500, Embraer 170 and 195. Shalen carried New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (NZCAA) Part 145 Senior Person accountability.

Beyond the technical work, Shalen has successfully strengthened maintenance organisations and contributed significantly to improvements in flight operations. He has been instrumental in the planning and development of an engineering maintenance training institution and has played a key role in the establishment and implementation of a comprehensive Safety Management System (SMS). Shalen has also overseen aircraft lease inductions across multiple jurisdictions. He is a leader who has always had the Pacific's aviation future firmly at heart.

Darcy Bower

Co-Founder & Director

Darcy is a dual-qualified commercial lawyer and aircraft engineer with over 25 years of experience across airline operations, aircraft leasing, and Pacific aviation governance. His career has taken him from working as an aircraft engineer on the Air New Zealand aircraft fleet to advising on fleet modernisation for Fiji Airways and providing governance counsel to Pacific carriers including Solomon Airways and Air Vanuatu. His regional reach extends further through legal advisory provided to senior industry figures navigating operational and compliance challenges across the Pacific, including matters touching on Samoa Airways. He is a full member of ISTAT, the International Bar Association, and the Fiji Law Society.

What makes Darcy exceptional is the rare combination of technical grounding and legal expertise he brings to every challenge — and an unwavering belief that the Pacific deserves better connected, better served aviation.