A conference group's first hour in Fiji is decided in the Nadi arrivals hall, and almost every failure there is a planning failure rather than an airport one. Get the greeting point, the signage, the staffing ratio and the manifest right and a wide-body aircraft's worth of delegates moves through in one wave. Get them wrong and you lose people.
This article covers how a group arrival at Nadi International (NAN) actually works, what Fiji Airports publishes and what it does not, and the decisions that are yours rather than the airport's.
What size of problem are you actually solving?
Nadi handles 97% of Fiji's international arrivals and reports more than 2.1 million international passengers a year, served by 20 airlines connecting 15 international cities on 38 scheduled international flights a day.
For group planning, the number that matters is not the annual total but the aircraft. A single wide-body can deliver most of your conference at once. Published fleet data for Fiji Airways — from secondary sources rather than the airline's own site, which we could not verify directly — puts the A350-900 at around 334 seats, the A330-300 at 313, the A330-200 at 273, and the 737 MAX 8 at 170.
So if 180 delegates are arriving on one A350 sector, plan for 334 people to hit the hall at the same time, of whom 180 are yours. That is the real constraint.
What is the arrival sequence at Nadi?
Fiji Airports does not publish a step-by-step arrivals description on its public site, so treat the sequence below as a working model to confirm with your ground handler rather than as an official statement.
As commonly described: immigration and passport control first, then baggage claim, then a customs and biosecurity declaration desk, then a biosecurity X-ray of every bag before the arrivals hall. The biosecurity X-ray is the part that surprises planners, because it is a single-file process that every passenger passes through with their luggage after they have already collected it.
Once through, the arrivals hall has an information desk, currency exchange, ATMs, cafés and telecommunications kiosks. Fiji Airports states that Vodafone Fiji and Digicel Fiji kiosks sell SIM cards in the arrivals hall, that a passport is required to buy one, and that free wi-fi runs throughout the terminal.
How long does clearing a full aircraft take? We could not find a published figure from Fiji Airports or any other authority, and we are not going to print one. Ask your ground handler for their own measured average on your arrival day and time, and ask what it looks like when two wide-bodies land within thirty minutes of each other — which at Nadi is normal.
Where should the greeting point go?
Tourism Fiji notes that yellow taxis sit immediately outside the arrivals hall, and transfer operators either hold desks inside the terminal or wait in designated car park areas with name placards. That is your two options in one sentence.
For a group of any size, do not try to gather people inside the hall. The hall is the bottleneck for every arriving flight, not just yours. Instead:
- Place a single visible marshal inside the exit line of sight, whose only job is to point. No conversation, no clipboard.
- Place the actual holding point outside, in shade, with water, seating if you can get it, and a clearly branded banner that is readable from thirty metres.
- Place the coach dispatcher at the vehicle, not at the holding point, so that loading and counting are the same action.
One further thing worth knowing: nothing is published about whether a permit or airport pass is required to hold a sign inside the Nadi terminal. Transfer drivers plainly do it, so it is permitted in practice, but if you are sending your own staff rather than a licensed operator, confirm it with Fiji Airports' landside operations team before the day.
What should the signage say?
The event name, not the delegate's name, and not your agency's name.
A delegate stepping out of biosecurity is looking for a word they recognise. They recognise the conference. They may not recognise the DMC you appointed, and they definitely do not want to scan forty A4 sheets for their own surname.
| Element | Do | Don't |
|---|---|---|
| Primary text | Event name, 150 mm letters minimum | Agency logo at the top |
| Colour | One high-contrast colour, used on banner, lanyards and staff shirts | Resort branding the delegate has never seen |
| Format | Double-sided, freestanding outside; handheld inside | Laminated A4 |
| Staff | Same shirt colour as the banner | Ordinary corporate dress |
| Second language | If a significant cohort needs it | Six languages on one sign |
How many greeters do you need?
This is judgement rather than a published standard, so treat the following as our working rule rather than an industry rule:
- One greeter per 25 to 30 arriving delegates at the holding point.
- One dispatcher per coach, whose only job is the door and the count.
- One manifest owner for the whole arrival, who never leaves the holding point and never loads a vehicle.
- One floater with a local mobile number, who chases missing people and talks to the airline desk.
Below about 40 delegates, the manifest owner and the floater can be the same person. Above about 150, they cannot.
How do you run the manifest?
Three rules that prevent most of the problems:
- Organise the manifest by inbound flight, not alphabetically. You are reconciling arrivals, not checking in a hotel.
- Reconcile live and out loud. Names get ticked at the holding point, not later from a coach list. A delegate who walked past your marshal and got in a taxi is a fact you want within ten minutes, not at the resort.
- Decide the dispatch rule before the day. How long does a coach hold for one missing person? Who authorises it to leave? Write the answer down, because at 6am nobody wants to make that call for the first time.
Keep a standing "not seen" list, and hand it to the floater rather than the coach dispatcher.
What should delegates be told before they land?
Send this as a one-page pre-trip note, not buried in a programme PDF:
- Fiji still uses a paper Passenger Arrival Card, handed out by the airline. Complete both sides before landing.
- Passport valid for more than six months, and a confirmed return ticket — Fiji Immigration lists both for the visitor permit.
- Declare food, plant and animal products. Biosecurity screens every bag.
- Cash of FJ$10,000 or more must be declared to Fiji Revenue and Customs.
- SIM cards are in the arrivals hall; bring your passport.
- Look for the event banner outside the arrivals hall, not inside it.
Full detail is in entry, visas and customs for Fiji and visas and entry for conference delegates in Fiji.
Is there an official fast-track at Nadi?
Fiji Airports lists a "VIP Services" item on its own site, but we could not load the page to confirm what the product is — so we cannot tell you whether an official airport fast-track exists or what it costs. Ask Fiji Airports directly.
A commercial third party, Fiji Fast Track, operates a meet-and-assist product at Nadi: a greeter at the airbridge, assistance through passport control, escort to baggage and customs, and help finding the driver. It is available on any airline and in any cabin, and it does not state that it is endorsed by Fiji Airports. Rates are by quotation.
For most conference groups the better spend is a good ground handler for everyone rather than fast-track for a few. Rosie Holidays runs 24-hour airport services with meet-and-greet and around 100 air-conditioned vehicles; Tourist Transport Fiji has 35-plus years of seat-in-vehicle and private transfers timed to international arrivals; TEWAKA Fiji and Xplore Fiji also handle group work, and Airport Shuttle Fiji and Fiji VIP Transfers cover the smaller end. The whole list sits in the transport directory.
What about Suva groups and Nausori?
If your conference is in Suva, most international delegates will still arrive at Nadi and travel on, because Nausori (SUV) is principally Fiji's domestic hub. Nausori is roughly 23 km from Suva, about a 45-minute drive. Plan a Nadi arrival with either a domestic connection or a coach transfer, and read moving 100, 300 and 800 delegates around Fiji for the onward leg.
The first 90 minutes, on one line each
| Time from wheels down | What is happening | Your job |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 min | Taxi and disembark | Marshal in position, banner up outside |
| 10–35 min | Immigration queue | Floater confirms flight landed with full load |
| 35–60 min | Baggage claim | Coaches staged, dispatchers at doors |
| 50–90 min | Customs and biosecurity X-ray | First delegates emerge; reconciliation begins |
| 60–110 min | Hall to holding point | Ticking, water, first coach loads |
| Last 20 min | The stragglers | Not-seen list worked; dispatch rule applied |
Those bands are planning shapes, not measured times — see the caveat above.
Next step
Book the ground handler before you book the coaches, brief them with the manifest in inbound-flight order, and walk the route yourself on a site inspection if the group is over 100. Then read the cluster hub, moving delegates around Fiji, and getting a group into Fiji: air access for planners for what happens before the wheels touch down.
Entry and customs requirements are guideline only and change — confirm with the Fiji Immigration Department and the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service before travel. Last reviewed 16 September 2026.