By the early 1970s, seven Pacific island governments, some still under British rule at the time, held shares in Air Pacific, in addition to shares held by Qantas, Air New Zealand and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. However, the regional airline idea lost support as some of the shareholding Pacific island governments sold their shares and created their own national airlines.

In the 1970s, tourism became the nation's leading industry, which made the airline even more important to the Fijian economy; and in 1974 the government of Fiji began increasing its shareholding. By 1978, it owned 93%. In 1987, Qantas purchased 20%. In 1993, the government owned 80%, Qantas 10% and Air New Zealand 2%. In 1998 Qantas increased its shareholding to 46%.

In the 1990s, the airline relocated its headquarters from the capital city of Suva to the coastal town of Nadi where the main international airport is located. The company also constructed an elaborate aircraft maintenance centre there. By the late 1990s, the fleet included both Boeing 737 and 767 jets, while the ATR 42 turboprops were used on domestic flights.

In August 1993, Air Pacific leased the 747 from Air New Zealand and later on, from August 1996, a 747-200 was again leased from Qantas.

The 2000 Fijian coup d'état devastated the country's tourism industry and overall economy, which led to a substantial decrease in travel to Fiji. Faced with a falloff in air traffic, Air Pacific returned one of its two leased Boeing 747s. In 2003, Air Pacific received the first of two Boeing 747-400s it was leasing from Singapore Airlines.

In 2005, Air Pacific acquired Sun Air, a domestic airline, renamed it Pacific Sun and began operations as Air Pacific's domestic and regional subsidiary. In December 2009, Air Pacific commenced a twice-weekly service to Hong Kong from Nadi, which was increased to three services in January 2014. In July 2010, Air Pacific announced a new Suva-Auckland service, which was discontinued in 2020.

In April 2011, due to delivery delays of almost four years, Air Pacific announced that it had cancelled its order of eight Boeing 787-9s. In October 2011, Air Pacific announced that it had ordered three Airbus A330-200s instead to be delivered in 2013.

In May 2012, Managing Director & CEO Dave Pflieger announced that the airline, which was completing a successful turnaround that included restructuring and re-fleeting, would be re-branded as "Fiji Airways" to help enhance sales and marketing of the airline and the south Pacific island nation. In June 2014, Pacific Sun was rebranded to Fiji Link.

In May 2012, the airline announced that it would be rebranding to its original name of Fiji Airways, with the rebranding coinciding with the delivery of the A330 aircraft in 2013. Fiji Airways' new logo, a "Masi symbol that epitomises Fiji and enhances the new name of Fiji's national carrier", was announced on 17 August 2012. The design was created by local Fijian Masi artist, Makereta Matemosi. The airline's new brand identity and colour scheme were fully revealed by the CEO and Prime Minister of Fiji at a formal red-carpet, black-tie event in Suva on 10 October 2012, in conjunction with Fiji Day.

Also during the rebranding of Air Pacific to Fiji Airways, a new line of uniforms for its cabin crew was launched, and was designed by Fiji-based French designer Alexandra Poenaru-Philp. In China, the name Air Pacific was often confused with Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific, Philippine airline Cebu Pacific and a Chinese air conditioning company. With the rebranding came a name change for the airline's booking classes. The Pacific Voyager (economy) and Tabua Class (business) of Air Pacific became the Fiji Airways' Economy and Fiji Airways' Business Class. The airline also launched a new website with the rebranding. Just as the rebranding of Fiji Airways occurred as the new Airbus A330 arrived. A major milestone during this period was the introduction and ramp-up of the Airbus A330-200 fleet, which replaced older Boeing 747-400 aircraft. The retirement of the 747s, completed earlier in the decade, allowed Fiji Airways to operate more efficiently on long-haul routes while right-sizing capacity for its markets. The A330s became the backbone of the airline’s long-haul operations to Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America.

In June 2014, Fiji Airways officially launched Fiji Link with the delivery of its first ATR 72-600. by the end of the year a second ATR 72-600 and an ATR 42-600 also joined Fiji Airways fleet. The ATR fleet was used on larger domestic routes and some international routes to neighbouring island groups while the Twin Otter fleet is used in smaller domestic markets.

In May 2015, Fiji Airways took delivery of a fifth Boeing 737-800. The addition will boost Fiji Airways plans to start new services and add extra flights, including flights between Nadi and Christchurch and Wellington in New Zealand. An Airbus A330-300 was also expected to enter the fleet in December, and this acquisition was integral to the airline’s plans to grow its network by adding another long-haul destination in Asia.

In December 2016, Fiji Airways has announced it will commence twice-weekly direct services to Adelaide commencing June 2017. This new fourth Australian route, after Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. As well, a landmark development occurred in December 2016 with the launch of non-stop flights between Nadi and Los Angeles. This route represented a strategic breakthrough, giving Fiji Airways direct access to the United States West Coast for the first time.

In October 2017, Fiji Airways started offering the Resort Check-In service at the Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa on Denarau Island.

In July 2018, Fiji Airways resumed direct flights to Tokyo Narita, operated three times a week with Airbus A330-200/-300 aircraft. In August 2018, Fiji Link received its fourth brand new Viking DHC-6 Series 400 Twin Otter aircraft. After the addition of this new aircraft, Fiji Airways’s domestic subsidiary has one of the youngest fleets in the world with an average age of just 1.8 years.